The Most Difficult Thing I'll Never Do
by SeeminglyCaptivating
Summary: "Sorry about that. Didn't mean to scare you. From the way you look, you'd think you saw a ghost." The laugh Keith suppressed came out as more of a strangled yelping noise. - In which Lance is a ghost and Keith, his new roommate, is the only one who can see him.
1. Drop Dead Gorgeous

"Hello, and welcome to my home." Lance sighed, sitting down on the couch. It wasn't even his couch anymore, but something the realtor had placed there to make the condo more "modern."

As always he looked at the realtor first. She had no response at all and completely ignored him while continuing to talk to the two men who had entered with her.

The older one was tall and muscular with a prosthetic hand poking out from his jacket. He had a large white streak running through his hair, and a scar across his nose. His impressive stature towered above the other two, clearly a man who worked out. He made Lance slightly envious. He looked like he could handle himself in a fight for sure. But there was no response from him either.

The other one was shorter, smaller, younger, but very attractive. He had a leather jacket pulled around his shoulders. His black hair was long, but pulled up in a ponytail at the moment, so that Lance couldn't quite tell just how much of it would fall around his shoulders. Lance didn't need more than a moment to tell this guy was a serious, loner type. The way he stood with arms crossed, barely paying attention told him everything.

Lance sighed again.

The shorter man flicked his eye towards the sound, and then immediately back toward the realtor. It was fast, but not fast enough to prevent Lance from noticing.

"Wait a second…" Lance stood up immediately and moved towards him. "Can you see me?"

The younger man made no motion, said nothing, just stared pointedly ahead.

"Hello? HELLOOO?" Lance waved a hand in front of the man's face.

He saw the man's eyes flicker for just a second to Lance's hands before focusing once again on the realtor.

"So you _CAN_ see me!" Lance laughed. "Why would you try to hide that?"

The man frowned and ever so slightly shook his head back and forth, tightening his jaw.

"Ah, gotcha, don't want our pals here to know you see ghosties, huh?" He motioned at the realtor and the other man, who had gotten several steps ahead.

As though by fate, the bigger man chose just that moment to turn to look at them. "Keith! Don't lag behind. We have a schedule to keep."

"R-right, Shiro!" Keith quickened his steps, hoping the ghost wouldn't follow him into the next room.

This one was a large room set up as a bedroom. The realtor prattled on about its air circulation and access to the nearest bathroom.

Keith allowed his muscles to relax a bit. He always felt tense meeting a new ghost. There was of course the problem of accidentally talking to one like they were alive. He'd run into that problem on a few occasions. If he wasn't careful he'd start asking one for directions or something. Everyone else would just see a guy talking to himself. Keith had had enough time at psychotherapists to last a lifetime.

More than that was the problem of their temperament. Ghosts always seemed so real, so human-like until you got down to their emotions. Something about dying made a person lose control. Keith had met his fair share of ghosts who had nothing on their minds except causing harm. Once they fell into that evil there was no coming back, they became a ghost that could interact with the normal world, a poltergeist, a truly evil spirit. Keith would take accidentally appearing to have a conversation with a wall over a poltergeist at any time. The thought alone made him shudder.

 _Even if he seems normal now._

It didn't seem like this one was following him though, so at least that was something.

"So your name's Keith, huh?" The voice came from the ceiling.

Keith let out a small yelp. The realtor and Shiro turned to look at him. "I just tripped. I'm fine, sorry."

Lance looked down from the ceiling before dropping down into the room. "Sorry about that. Didn't mean to scare you. From the way you look, you'd think you saw a ghost."

The laugh Keith suppressed came out as more of a strangled yelping noise. Once again Shiro and the realtor turned to look at him. He held up his hands at them, sheepishly. "Sorry, again."

The ghost relaxed into the corner, lying sideways on the bed like he was straight out of some cheesy rom com Adam would force Shiro and him to watch. Keith stared pointedly ahead once again, refusing to look at the ghost or the oh so obvious hint of skin that appeared from under the shirt he was wearing, pulled up slightly from the way his arm was positioned.

"Ahhh...It's been so long since anyone laughed at my jokes. Thank you for that. The name's Lance by the way. I'd shake your hand, but obviously that won't work out exactly as planned."

Keith bit his lip to keep from smiling, even so his lip jerked upward slightly. At least this one was funny. He sighed as he followed the realtor into yet another room. Ghosts were so often sad or panicked when Keith met them. They were a whirlwind of emotions that were ready to get out of control at any moment. Keith almost shuddered again at the thought, he forced a memory down before it could show on his face.

But then he looked at Lance. _Not a whirlwind of emotions at all._

Lance, off all things, seemed resigned, maybe a little bored. Keith could imagine that he would have been nearly the same while alive, constantly making jokes and cheering people up.

It also didn't hurt that Lance was attractive, although Keith didn't really want to admit that he had the hots for a ghost. If Lance was still alive, he'd be someone Keith would want to flirt with, even though he could already tell their personalities were in stark contrast.

Even so, Keith definitely didn't want to live in this apartment. He couldn't stand the thought of having to work around a ghost each and every day. It was hard enough going through the day to day and not knowing if the strangers you meet were actually dead and wanted to cause harm. No way he needed a dead guy as a roommate. No thank you. Keith snuck a last peek at Lance before moving on. Even if that dead guy was exceedingly attractive and funny.

Shiro and the realtor had started getting ahead of Keith, and he hurried to catch up to them leaving Lance still lying on the bed.

It didn't take long for Lance to show back up. This time it was in the kitchen. Keith opened one of the cabinet doors and yelled as a familiar face stared back at him, making Keith jump backwards and slam into his brother.

"Aaagh!" Shiro yelled as he had to catch himself on the countertops. "Jesus, Keith, what's wrong with you today? You're white as a ghost."

"No. I'm not." Keith said, shaking his head, and letting out a slight chuckle, which he tried and failed to mask into a cough.

"What?"

"Nevermind." Keith said, shaking his head. "I thought I saw a mouse. It was just my imagination."

"Since when are you afraid of mice?"

Keith looked down and mumbled. "You would have yelled too if something had popped out of nowhere to surprise you."

He shot a glare into the cupboard where Lance, had he not already been dead, would have been dying of laughter. The laughs Lance made were light and airy, a joyful sound.

Keith liked the sound, but even if he was only in this apartment for another ten minutes, even if Lance was mostly harmless, he couldn't have Lance keep popping out of him from nowhere. With sudden inspiration he spoke to the two living people in the room. "I'm sorry, I need to head to the bathroom. Which way?"

The realtor pointed. "Down that hall, the second door on the left."

"Thanks." Keith said to her and squared his shoulders as he stomped past. He pulled himself into the tiny bathroom and waited. It didn't take long for Lance's head to pop through the door.

Keith jumped again, but this time he was more prepared for it. "And what if I had actually needed to _use_ the bathroom?"

"Sorry, man," said Lance, pulling himself the rest of the way through the door. "I can't exactly knock." He demonstrated this by pantomiming a knock with his hand. His fist went straight through the door each time. There was no sound.

"Fair enough."

"So what's up?" Lance perched himself on the edge of the bathtub, waiting patiently. He spoke like Keith was an old friend who had come to him for dating advice.

"You need to quit it."

"Quit what?" Lance said, innocently blinking his eyes. _Jeez, he had long lashes._

Keith shook it off. "Seriously, man, cut it out. Quit scaring me and trying to make me laugh in front of my brother."

"But I haven't been able to tease anyone in such a long time. You have no idea!"

"Well you have no idea what it's like for people to think you need a psychiatric ward because you see 'spectral apparitions'." Keith held up air quotes on the last words.

Lance frowned. "Fine. I'll stop." He started floating backwards, eventually through the wall. "It's not like you entered _my_ home and started talking about renting _my_ space."

Oh, god, now the ghost was gonna get mad at him. Keith pinched the bridge of his nose from the headache this was all giving him. He needed to backtrack and make sure everyone was calm or this was going to become one hell of a visit. "I'm sorry okay. I know it's hard being a ghost. I'm not trying to intrude."

"Nah, man, you're wrong." Lance said, only his head left inside the the bathroom, the rest of his body already moved through the wall. "It's not hard being a ghost. It's hard being _dead_."

And with that Lance was gone. He'd actually made Keith feel guilty. Keith sighed. But on a happy note maybe the ghost would leave him alone now.

Keith opened the door to go back to his brother, but Lance was standing an inch from his face with a wicked grin on his lips. Keith bit into his own hand to keep himself from yelling again. When he pulled his fist away he muttered, "fuckin' hell," under his breath.

"Well there's no need for such strong language." Lance pretended to pat Keith on the head. Keith got a shiver running down his spine when they touched.

"You said you weren't gonna do that anymore." Keith whispered, not wanting his brother to hear.

"I know. I'm sorry, but in my defense you did make me upset."

"That's not a defense. That's an admission."

"Ooohh, law student." Lance smirked.

"No, just annoyed citizen."

"Okay, fine. I'll cut it out for real this time. I'm not keeping that promise if you end up living here though. It's fair game at that point."

"Fine." Keith stomped back to the kitchen, but the realtor and his brother had already moved on to one of the other rooms. Keith stomped through the apartment, looking. It wasn't like he was going to live there anyway. He'd just have to convince Shiro he didn't like the place for some reason. He'd already said he thought he'd seen a mouse, maybe he actually had.

He finally found Shiro and the realtor back in the living room. There were papers over the coffee table.

"Good news, little bro! We've finally got a new apartment!" Shiro smiled, holding up the paper he'd just signed.

Fuck.

* * *

 **A/N:** Ahhhh! I'm back!

The plan for this one is to post one chapter every day until Halloween. It's Happy Halloweek everybody!

7 Chapters. Which doesn't seem like a lot, but I've been working on this one all month long and I'm only halfway through...heaven help me...

Love you all! Thank you for reading!


	2. A Bone to Pick

Within a week the moving truck had arrived. Shiro and Keith had only moved from across the city, they'd needed a bigger place and had wanted somewhere close to Shiro's work and a couple good colleges as Shiro liked to oh so obviously point out to Keith on occasion.

Keith would roll his eyes and ignore his brother when he started talking about stuff like that.

It wasn't that Keith didn't _want_ to go to college, more that he didn't know what he wanted to do and if he wasn't sure college would just be an expensive detour. Besides, he worked as an apprentice to a mechanic and that made him a reasonable amount of money for the time being. Maybe he turn that into a profession...then again, maybe not.

With each trip to the moving truck they could grab more boxes. Soom the living room was full of stacks of cardboard.

Keith had to admit, Lance's place _was_ nice. It had two big bedrooms with a bathroom each. The apartment also had a decent sized kitchen and living room. It wasn't a palace by any means, but he wouldn't have to share a bathroom with Shiro, and that was a godsend. Of course Keith's bathroom would be the one with hallway access, which meant that he'd have to share with any guests who came by, but that was still a huge step up from before.

It had enough space that Shiro's boyfriend Adam would be welcome to visit, and Keith and Shiro no longer shared a wall either so he wouldn't be able to hear anything they got up to. Keith sent up a silent prayer for that bit of peace. He wondered if that had been the real reason for the apartment change. He might be getting a third roommate soon, and the bigger space was definitely ideal for that.

"What do you think about having a housewarming party in a couple days?" Shiro asked.

"Yeah, that sounds fine." Keith huffed as he set down a box of books in his room.

"So I'll invite Adam, and of course Matt and Allura. Did you have anyone you wanted to invite?"

Matt was one of Shiro's coworkers from Galra, Inc. that they were both friends with. At some point the guy had met Allura and then they'd all become close friends within only a couple weeks. It didn't hurt that Matt had invited Allura to _everything_ until they'd finally all become close. He was hopelessly in love with her, but she, of course, didn't even notice.

The way that Shiro had posed the question though made Keith eyeroll. "Nope, Matt'll bring Pidge too and that'll work for me."

"So no coworkers, friends... _guy friends_?" Shiro didn't have much tact when it came to asking questions about Keith's personal life.

"Nope."

"Keith, don't you think-"

"Nope"

"You don't think?" The voice came from Keith's closet. There was slight snickering accompanying it.

Keith had been wondering when Lance would appear again. It hadn't taken long. He ignored the laughter as best he could.

"No, Shiro, you know that I'm not seeing anyone. I would tell you if I was."

"Well, I worry about you a bit. You've never had a lot of friends your own age."

"I'm done talking about it, Shiro." Keith closed his door to his room a bit harder than he had intended and got to work on unpacking.

"So...no friends your own age, huh?" Lance asked, peeking his head out of the college.

"Not really. I didn't get along with a lot of people when I was in school. They thought I was weird." He started pulling out books on the paranormal and pointed to the one in his hand. "I don't really blame them. I've got kind of weird hobbies."

"Yeah, that might put some people off."

"Did you want something?" Keith didn't mean for the words to sound as gruff as they came out. He didn't the energy to deal with a ghost at the moment, and it was showing.

In response Lance frowned at him. "Not really, I just wanted to hang out I guess. I haven't talked to anyone in months." He started floating back into the closet.

Keith suddenly felt a little bit bad. He didn't want to talk to a ghost, but it wasn't like there was much of a way he could avoid him either, and it was bad form to make him upset. This was even more true since Keith knew how erratic ghosts could be. So before he could stop himself he just said, "Wait."

Lance peeked his head back around. "Hmmm...did you want something now?"

"No, I guess I just think that it would be...nice to talk to someone while unpacking." Keith bit his cheek to stop any insults from flying. _Just be nice. Just be nice._ It barely worked. _Look at his eyes...those are nice, pretty and blue. Yep, just focus on the things you like about him, not on the fact that you hate ghosts._

"Okay." Lance smiled. He strode into the room and took a seat into Keith's desk chair. "So, what's up?"

"What's up? Really?" Keith raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's a perfectly acceptable question for polite society."

"Yeah, but you already know what's up. I'm unpacking to move into your room, there's nothing else going on right now." Keith was exasperated.

"Shows what you know. This was my friend's room. Shiro's moving into mine. I had the master with the private bath." Lance sighed like he was reminiscing on old times. "I used to have a full morning and night ritual of different creams and lotions...and now I haven't even seen myself in the mirror in who knows how long!"

"Oh." Keith was quiet for a second, not sure what to make of this information. Ghosts didn't have reflections and he'd never really thought about how badly someone might miss theirs. "Have you really not talked to anyone in months?"

"Well, yeah, I've been dead for a while. Not a lot of talking happens with people who can't see you."

"Well what about other ghosts?"

Lance looked uncomfortable. "I...I haven't really met any nice ones. They're kind of..."

That Keith could understand. "What about at your funeral? There's always a lot of ghosts in graveyards. Surely there was at least one that you could have gotten along with." Keith knew this first hand. He hadn't walked through a cemetery in years because of it. Keith wasn't afraid of a lot of things, but cemeteries were horrible, awful places. Even if a couple ghosts might be decent the rest you could almost guarantee were evil and corrupt, saddened over years of neglect and lost memories. Still, to be alone for months...even Keith could imagine him getting desperate enough for a cemetery, and he was a _loner!_

This made Lance look even more uncomfortable. "I didn't go."

"You didn't go to your own funeral? Isn't that...I don't know...a thing that _everyone_ does?" Lance didn't strike him as the type of person who wouldn't want to know how many people showed up to say goodbye.

"Well I didn't. I'm not entirely sure I even know where my grave is."

Keith whistled. This guy was getting stranger and stranger. Keith couldn't help himself. He was curious. "So then what did you do after you died?"

Lance stroked his chin, thinking about it. "Well I haunted the guy who killed me for a bit. I was hoping I could knock stuff over and make his life a bit difficult. Turns out I'm not very good at that." Lance demonstrated by trying to knock over a cup of pens on Keith's desk. His hand went straight through. The pens didn't even stir at all. "My hands just went through everything no matter how hard I tried."

Keith nodded, then suppressed another shudder. "You'd need to be a poltergeist for that."

It was Lance's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"A really angry, evil spirit. Ghosts usually only turn into one if they feel bitter about their death or go too long with unfinished business on Earth. Sometimes it happens if they start losing their memories, that would make anyone mad."

"Losing memories?"

"Yeah, it can happen sometimes. As far as I can tell that's a side effect of being on Earth too long without passing on."

"Hmmm...I guess that makes sense." Lance looked uncomfortable. He seemed to rack his brain for a second before responding to the first thing Keith had said. "I wasn't really bitter about dying, I was more sad about it, about all the things I wasn't gonna get to do." Lance laughed all of a sudden. "I still wanted him to pay, though. You should have seen me concentrating as hard as I could at knocking over his favorite houseplant."

Keith chuckled. "Yeah, but he probably just would have thought a cat had done it or something."

Lance laughed too. "You're probably right about that. All that work just for it to get blamed on a stupid cat."

"What about after that?"

"I just came here. I tried to tell my roommate that I was here and how much I cared about him, but had the same problem. And then he moved out, and I'm not sure where he went. I can't blame him though, he didn't really take my death well."

Keith nodded again. "What about your family?"

Lance's look turned dark for a microsecond before it went back to looking casual. Keith thought he might have imagined it, but then he saw the pens on his desk ever so slightly shift as though someone had bumped into them. "They don't live around here, so I haven't seen them."

Keith could tell it was a lie, but decided it was better not to ask about it. If living with a ghost was going to be difficult, living with a poltergeist would be infinitely worse. Keith went back to picking up more books out of his box and putting them on the shelf.

"So, anyway, what about you?" Lance asked, changing the subject. "Have you always been able to see ghosts?"

"I don't think so. I know that when I was six they started becoming clearer. Now they're so clear I have trouble telling them apart from normal people. I have to be careful who I start talking to."

"Why?" Lance asked, puzzled.

Keith tilted his head to the side and frowned a bit, looking annoyed. "You mean aside from the obvious 'look mommy that man's talking to the air'?"

"Well, okay, sure, that's kind of weird, but this is a city full of people who do weirder stuff."

"Yeah, well I don't want to be one of those weird people." Keith kept his frown.

"Fair enough."

"I don't like talking to ghosts very much, anyway."

"You seem fine talking to me." Lance seemed a bit hurt.

"Well, you're...I don't know...different or something. You said it yourself, most ghosts are not people you want to be friends with. They're angry or sad and there's not a lot of other variety. It's not all of them that I mind, but there were a couple times…" Keith shuddered for real this time. "I don't like to think about how evil some of them can be."

"But isn't that what mediums do?"

Keith raised an eyebrow at him.

"You know, someone like you, someone who can talk to ghosts. Aren't you supposed to talk to ghosts, to help them, like, not be evil, to get them to pass on. Stuff like that."

Keith shrugged. "It's not like I've never thought about helping a ghost before, it's just that there've been one too many times where things go...bad. The living aren't supposed to mess with death."

"What do you mean?"

Keith frowned at him for a second. He looked Lance in the eye as though to determine if it was worth it to tell him. Then he sighed. "The first time I met a ghost he chased me all the way home. I was six and alone. I've had ghosts scream at me for hours on end. I've had them throw things at me. One...even set my house on fire."

Lance was silent for a moment before he spoke. "That's…"

"Awful, yeah." Keith turned away, pretending to be busy with unpacking again. He tried to steady his trembling hands.

"I wouldn't do that, though." Lance said finally. "I promise."

Keith laughed. As though that was going to be something Lance could control. He felt a shiver run down his spine all of a sudden and turned to see Lance retracting his hand from his shoulder.

"Sorry. I didn't realize that would happen. But I really do mean it. I wouldn't do any of those things."

Keith shrugged this time, refusing to make eye contact. "I don't know if you will be able to help it. The longer you're here, the worse everything will get."

"So I'm doomed unless I pass on? Is that what you're saying." Lance sounded almost angry.

Keith let the silence answer for him. When he finally turned he was surprised to see that Lance still didn't seem upset anymore. He was lying on Keith's bed and seemed, once again, resigned.

"Lance…" Keith said very carefully. "Ghosts always think that I can help them get to the other side, and so often I just…I can't. Their business can't get finished for some reason, or what they thought was the reason they're stuck on Earth actually isn't. I don't know...It's just awful sometimes."

Lance nodded without looking. "I guess that makes sense."

Keith got the sense that Lance wasn't saying everything he wanted to say in that moment. They stayed in silence for a few seconds. It wasn't exactly uncomfortable, more like they had no idea what to say to the other.

Keith wasn't sure that he'd be friends with Lance under different circumstances. Of course, Keith didn't have a lot of friends to begin with, and Lance seemed like the kind of guy who had a lot of friends in life. There wasn't a big chance that their paths would have even crossed.

The rest of the night Keith worked on unpacking. Lance eventually seemed to become his old self again. He flitted in and out of rooms, watching what people were doing, and making the occasional comment.

"Really, you're gonna put _that_ lamp next to _that_ chair?"

Each time Lance would speak like that Keith would raise his eyebrows, unable to say anything else around Shiro.

"I'm just saying the patterns don't really match. It's _fi-ine_." Lance would say, before they both rolled their eyes and continued on in what they were doing.

Keith had resigned himself to the fact that he was going to be living with a ghost for the foreseeable future. _Well at least it won't be as bad as walking through a cemetery._

It took the entire night, and most of the next day too, but finally Shiro deemed the apartment ready for guests.

* * *

"Knock, knock." Said Matt, already stepping through the door as if he'd been to their new place a thousand times. "I've brought Pidge. And dip!" He added as an afterthought.

Keith gave a quick hug to Matt. "Shiro's in the kitchen getting food ready."

Pidge held up what she was holding in her hands so that Keith could see before they also hugged.

"Super Smash? Really?" Keith asked her.

"Well you know how much I love kicking your ass at video games, at least you sort of enjoy this one." She elbowed him in the ribs before heading to the couch to start setting up the wii.

In an instant, Keith felt a chill run down his spine. He looked to his right at the party's uninvited guest, who had chosen that moment to put a hand through Keith's shoulder. Keith stepped ever so slightly so that Lance wasn't touching him any more. Lance retracted his hand, looking apologetic for once before brightening up in a smile.

"Did someone say Smash Brothers?" Lance asked, an excited look on his face. "I haven't played that in so long."

In response Keith just raised his eyebrows, unable to say anything else with so many people around.

"I know. I know. You asked me to behave tonight, but I'm not just gonna sit by when there's Mario involved."

Lance inched closer to Pidge to look at the game she had in her hand. Her back was to them, and Lance leaned over her to see better. He was trying to be careful not to touch her, but somehow managed to stumble. Keith wasn't even sure how it was possible for a ghost to stumble, being able to float, and yet somehow Lance had managed it. He threw out his hands to steady himself. Keith watched in horror as one of them went right through the back of Pidge's head.

"Uauughh." Pidge shivered. "I just got a weird chill."

Lance righted himself then looked back at Keith with big fake doe eyes. "Oh no. Maybe the place is haunted."

Keith had to press his lips together and hold his breath to keep from laughing. He glared at Lance, who just looked away innocently.

Pidge turned to look at him too, already finished setting up the game. "Are you ready? Who are you gonna pick for the first round?"

Keith was in the middle of saying, "Marth, of course," when he heard Lance gasp but he wasn't looking at Keith. Keith blinked trying to ignore him as best he could, but watched out of the corner of his eye.

Lance was looking at Pidge. He hadn't seen her when she came in, and after had only seen the back of her head. Now that they were facing each other, Keith could tell it meant something.

Lance crouched to the same level, inspecting Pidge for a moment longer before he spoke. "I know her."

"What?" Keith asked.

"I didn't say anything." Answered Pidge.

Lance said, "I've met her before," at the same time as Keith said, "oh, sorry."

"What?" Keith asked again.

Pidge looked at him with her mouth open and eyebrows raised.

This time Pidge said, "I just said I didn't say anything," at the same time Lance said, "I've seen her before somewhere."

Keith paused for a second, looking up at the ceiling with eyes wide, completely unsure of how he was gonna keep it together tonight.

"Sorry, I'm just hungry. I'll grab a snack from Shiro and then we can play." Keith said turning around.

Right at that moment Allura walked through the door. She was carrying some kind of casserole in her hands and immediately got a big smile on her face when she saw Keith.

"Keith!" She said happily in her british accent. "So good to see you again."

"Wow, she's pretty." Lance said, admiring her long white hair.

Keith twitched in irritation for a moment before coming to his senses and returning a small smile to Allura. "I'll help you with that."

Keith grabbed the casserole dish out of her hands and stepped into the kitchen, completely ignoring Lance until he floated right back into his field of vision. Keith shot him a scowl so he would remember to behave.

"Oh, don't glare like that sweetheart, you're pretty too." Lance said in response.

Keith's cheeks flushed pink. This damn ghost was going to be the death of him. How was he supposed to seem even a little bit normal with Lance floating around everywhere.

"Okay, but in all seriousness," Lance's face dropped it's smile. "I've seen Pidge before...somewhere...when I was alive."

Keith grabbed a pig in a blanket that Shiro had only recently pulled out of the oven and popped it in his mouth. Trying to make sure nobody else noticed he shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly.

"I'll figure it out I guess. I just have to remember."

Keith shot a worried look at Lance all of a sudden. Lance wasn't looking at him, he was busy wracking his brain for a memory.

While he was focused on Lance, a hand gently patted Keith's shoulder. He spun around and was face to face with Adam, Shiro's boyfriend.

"Hey!" They said at the same time and hugged.

"This is a nice place." Adam said before went off to talk to Shiro. He was a man of fewer words than most, a product of his cool-under-fire personality. Keith liked him, and was glad Shiro had found someone to compliment him so well.

Keith had been in the kitchen too long though. He needed to get back to Pidge before she realized that he had just made an excuse to go into the other room. He grabbed a small paper plate and piled it with some of the other food that had been laid out. Allura forced him to eat a forkful of her casserole before she allowed him to head back into the living room.

He nodded at her, smiling through his chewing and shot her a thumbs up. It wasn't the best. The outside was tough and chewy, while the inside was barely cooked through and far too salty for human consumption. He wouldn't be taking any more of it, but he wasn't gonna be the one to tell her that. Leave that to Matt, or someone else who she might listen to without smacking him on the head first. Keith hurriedly grabbed a glass of water and downed it before she asked him any questions.

Back in the Living room he slid onto the couch and offered some of his plate to Pidge. "Avoid the casserole at all costs, if you want to live." He said quietly.

"Gotcha." Pidge said, throwing him a controller. "Allura make another horrid concoction?"

"So. Much. Salt."

"Ah. She cooked a casserole to match her personality."

Keith laughed, finally able to laugh at a joke without having to stifle himself. Lance floated to the back of the couch and kneeled down, pretending to rest his head on the back as best as he could.

Keith ignored him. He chose instead to flip through the list of characters until he pulled up his favorite.

"You're really gonna play as Marth, huh?" Lance said.

Keith's only response was to raise his eyebrow.

"It's just that of course you'd pick the character that looks the most like you."

Keith snorted slightly. He'd honestly never thought of it before.

Pidge raised his eyebrow at him. "Let's play."

"Ready!"

They watched as the screen counted them down. Marth against Link.

It was only a few seconds. Pidge hardly seemed to need to flick her controller more than a few times to send Marth out of the screen to his death.

"A good first try." She said, patronizing him.

Lance, on the other hand, looked shocked. "What was _that?_ You're not even good at button mashing. How is that possible? _Everyone's_ good at button mashing."

Keith scowled at Pidge and completely ignored Lance."Again?" He said, and Pidge started the game a second time.

As if by some miracle Keith actually managed to get a hit in, but then Pidge managed to finish him off even faster in that game.

"I forgot just how bad you are at this." Pidge looked at Keith with raised eyebrows.

"Hey, I never really grew up with video games, it's not something I'm used to. Give me a racing game and I'll kick your ass."

"Last time we did rainbow road you fell off the side six times."

"Okay, okay, I will admit that racing in a video game _might_ have some different mechanics than real life."

"No." Lance said and then quickly added, "No, no no, n-no, no!"

"Again?" Keith asked.

"No, this is not happening. I finally get a chance to be able to watch, _not even play,_ one of my favorite games and it's completely ruined because you can't even keep your character alive for more than a few seconds."

Keith flicked a hand in Lance's direction as though to say ' _just go, then.'_

Lance stalked away for a moment, but the second they started the next game he was back, watching, just as on edge as ever.

Once again Keith was losing.

"Next time Pidge comes at you do Marth's up air attack and then throw a combo." Lance said.

Keith turned to look at him, raising his eyebrows. It gave Pidge enough time to throw Marth off the edge of the arena.

"Pay attention! Oh my god, don't look at me, look at the screen!"

"I feel like you might actually be worse tonight than usual, is something throwing you off?" Pidge looked at Keith, who refocused his attention on her.

"Tonight's just not my night, I guess. I should probably actually learn how to do some of the combos or something." He said the words so that they were more emphasized than normal, hoping Lance would get it.

"Oh my god, you don't know any of the moves or combos do you?" Lance said, smacking himself in the face. "No wonder you looked at me like that."

At almost the same time Pidge said, "Wait, do you actually want to learn? Usually you just play until you get mad enough to throw the controller across the room."

"You know, I might still do that." Keith said, scowling, "But if I don't at least try to learn something tonight I feel like I'm never gonna hear the end of it."

Pidge looked at him, slightly confused, but shook it off. "O-kay...let's do a practice round, then."

For the next ten minutes Pidge talked Keith through different combos and attacks, while Lance narrated anything he felt she was missing, adding in details about how Marth stacks up against the other characters.

It was way too much information, and Keith wasn't sure he retained any of it.

"Okay, let's just play I guess." Keith grumbled, feeling like he'd just walked out of some sadistic exam he'd been completely unprepared for.

"Just try to remember what you can. I'm gonna help you beat up your friend." Lance said, gently touching Keith's shoulder, causing him to shiver a bit as the next game started.

This round Keith seemed to last a bit longer, but he quickly stopped trying to throw combos and went back to button mashing instead. Lance tried to yell out suggestions for moves, but Pidge had won before Keith could do much of anything.

Lance frowned, but didn't seem as frustrated as Keith felt. "Okay, team, that wasn't great, but I'm gonna simplify it down for this next one, and we're just gonna focus on the basics. Just do the moves I tell you as best you can."

Keith, sighed. It was gonna be a long night.

Pidge patted him on the shoulder. "Let's try again. I'll go easier on you."

As the next game started up though, he was actually surprised. Pidge had laid off him a bit which allowed him to focus more on what buttons he was pressing, while Lance just focused on yelling out the basics which Keith could actually follow.

After fending off Link for a couple minutes, Pidge said, "Okay, I'm gonna make it a bit tougher."

She sped up, and Keith had to work extra hard to keep up with Lance's directions. The three of them had reached some sort of strange flow. Finally Lance yelled out a combo, and when Keith did it, it threw Pidge off the side.

Keith was so surprised he almost dropped the controller.

Lance wasn't finished yet, though. "Run to the side, and when she grabs onto the stage hit her with your forward air attack."

Keith did as he was told, and to both his and Pidge's surprise, Link was sent offscreen to his death. Both their mouths fell open.

"Lucky shot." She said.

"No! I got you!"

"Think you can do it again?" Pidge started up the game again, this time more focused and less willing to take it easy on him.

Lance was Keith's secret weapon. They'd figured out each other's rhythm, and now Keith could actually follow the directions he was yelling out.

"Shield!" Lance would yell. "Down A. Approach and hold B. Up B!"

Keith was standing against Pidge almost strike for strike, but at the last moment she managed to combo Marth off screen again.

"Aww, guess it really was just a lucky hit." She said, smirking.

"Another game!" Keith said, already pressing the buttons to set it up.

He was getting it. For the first time, he was starting to be able to see the patterns in the movements, and actually defend. Keith still prefered actual physical combat to the game world, but he was several steps above where he had been, and with Lance on his side he was just about unstoppable.

The next game sent Link to his death. And the next.

"What were you saying about a lucky hit? Or did I just get lucky twice in a row now?"

Pidge sucked her teeth. This time it was her turn to growl out, "Again."

Their games had started to attract the attention of the rest of the partygoers. Allura and Matt poked their heads out of the kitchen and watched as Keith once again took out Pidge.

Matt whistled. "Did Keith suddenly get good, or is my sister honestly that bad at this game."

"Come over here and say that to my face!" Pidge yelled, focusing on the screen.

"Nah, I think I'll join you and watch you get beat first hand. Allura, you in?"

"I'll give it a shot." She nodded.

Pidge grabbed the other two controllers and chucked them one at a time at Matt's head without looking. Matt plucked them out of the air, easily and handed one to Allura.

"I'm doing Fox...what about yo-Princess Peach, of course." Matt said, blushing at Allura.

She smiled back at him, blushing as well.

Keith rolled his eyes. One of these days they were actually going to realize they were flirting with each other. Today was clearly not that day.

"Let's do this." Pidge said impatiently, also rolling her eyes.

With four people on the couch they all had to squish together to have enough room. Keith willingly scooted closer to Pidge rather than get stuck between Matt and Allura. He decided he'd take anything Pidge might do in her rage over having to pretend not to notice the flirtatious glances between a couple not yet willing to admit any feelings for each other.

Lance's face was even closer to Keith's than it had been before. Keith pretended not to notice, and it wasn't like it really mattered anyway. The closeness would only affect him if Lance accidentally touched him and made him shiver. It wasn't like ghosts had bad breath or anything.

Lance quickly spelled out some tips for multiplayer combat, clearly not bothered by the lack of space at all.

The next game began. Matt completely ignored Allura's character, who was attacking Keith, going instead for his sister.

Keith fended off Allura pretty quickly, eventually tossing her off screen, but not before Matt had thrown his sister down, hard.

Lance gestured at Allura. "See, _that_ is how you properly button mash. I'm so glad we cured you of that crime."

Keith ignored him and they focused in on Matt instead. He was good, but not quite good enough. Soon, Keith sent fox flying off screen as well with a couple of well placed combos courtesy of Lance.

"Haha!" Lance yelled, throwing his fist in the air in celebration.

They played several more games. A couple of them Keith thought he was going to lose but Lance helped him back just in time.

"How are you doing this?" Pidge finally asked, frustrated. "No one gets this good in a few minutes!"

"I guess I'm just a fast learner." Keith shrugged.

"You've known how to play all along haven't you? You've just been lying to me all this time."

"Oh, come on." Matt said, "Even Keith's not that good of a liar." He ruffled Keith's hair, forcing Keith to smack his hand away.

"Better a liar than cat burglar...wait...how did you two meet again?" He rounded on Matt and Allura.

Matt turned pink and muttered. "That doesn't even make sense."

Allura's eyes brightened. "Oh, he rescued my neighbor's cat, got a bit scratched up too, I might add. A dashing hero!"

Lance spluttered. "What?"

"Yeah, Allura, you might as well tell the whole story with all the excruciating details. Don't leave anything out." Pidge said, grinning maniacally.

"Okay!" She said brightly, enjoying taking a moment to embarrass her friend. "He was acting as Lotor's errand boy-"

"Personal assistant." Matt interrupted.

Lance jumped slightly. Keith glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. He was suddenly paying even more attention to the story, something was clearly on his mind, although Keith couldn't guess as to what it might be.

Allura ignored Matt and continued. "And was doing who knows what for the mousey little brat-"

"Please, Allura, that's my boss...we're all the same age." Matt said weakly.

"When my neighbor's cat got out and was causing quite a bit of trouble. She chased the front desk man, Coran, all the way up a tree, we almost had to call the fire department to get him down."

They all laughed before Allura continued.

"But fortunately this dashing man was there to save the day." She nudged Matt with her elbow. "He caught the cat and once he'd returned her to my neighbor he climbed into the tree and pulled Coran out, carrying him bridal style all the way back to the front desk. It was very romantic. The sunlight seemed to filter through the trees-"

"Please stop." Matt begged. "It was the opposite of romantic, I had scratches on my arms for weeks."

In the corner of his eye, Keith watched Lance let out a laugh, but it wasn't his usual loud and joyful one. Keith raised his eyebrow at him.

"It just reminds me of hanging out with my friends, is all." Lance looked a little melancholic.

Keith felt an urge to cheer him up. "Okay, one more game! But let's make it interesting."

Pidge cackled. "You're that confident, huh?"

Matt smiled darkly. The grin never reach his eyes. "Whoever wins, gives the others a dare? Or what were you thinking?"

"You're on." Keith said.

"Well I know I'm gonna lose, so that hardly seems fair." Allura said.

"How about winner picks only one of the losers for a dare?" Pidge suggested.

Allura nodded at that, feeling safe with a pair of rival siblings who were sure to punish each other or Keith if either won.

It was a fool's bargain, Keith thought. He would win, but even if he didn't Matt would definitely punish Allura for the story she'd just told, and Pidge would probably go after her brother if she ended up winning.

They started up again, Lance shouting directions and Keith immediately causing damage. After a minute Allura was out and the other three were battling it out for champion.

Keith knew he'd win this one, he could feel it. He and Lance were riding the same wavelength. Lance understood the game better than just about anyone, and with Keith's reaction times it was a match made in heaven.

But then Keith heard Lance gasp. Not able to turn around to look, he had to play on his own for a moment. Matt took advantage and dealt some good blows, quickly cutting Keith's health to half.

"I just realized how I know Pidge!" Lance yelled behind him.

Keith wanted to turn around so that Lance would remember that he needed his help, and to finish at least this one game before taking the time to reminisce on a memory, but he couldn't. Keith had to keep his eyes on the game or risk losing badly.

Pidge managed to damage Keith a bit further before Lance finally refocused and realized that Keith was in trouble. "Oh, right...sorry."

It was too little, too late. Keith was sent off the side of the stage by a final blow from Pidge. He slumped his head in defeat.

"Too bad!" Pidge yelled. "Losing right when it counts."

"I'm gonna head to the bathroom while you two finish duking it out." Keith said, shaking his head. He nodded slightly at Lance so that he knew to follow him.

"Don't move a muscle!" Matt yelled at Keith. "I know you're only leaving so that you don't have to face punishment!"

"No." Keith said. "I really need to go." Unfortunately, even to Keith it sounded like a lie.

"Just. Another. Second." Matt said, throwing all the attacks he could at Pidge. Finally Link was sent flying to the left and out of the screen. "Done!"

"Damn it!" Pidge said.

"I win! I win!" Matt stood up and danced around in a circle. He focused in on Keith. "And now I punish."

"Oh come on." Keith said, realizing what was about to happen.

Matt pointed a finger at him and said in a dramatic voice. "And now because Keith tried to escape, I dare him to say 'in my pants' after every sentence for the rest of the night."

"What?!"

"I think you mean 'what, in my pants." Matt said, still pointing.

Pidge started rolling around on the couch cracking up with laughter.

"Oh, come on! This is clearly a injustice!" Keith yelled, gesturing towards Allura. Matt just stared at him with his eyebrows raised until Keith added, quietly, "in my pants…"

"That's right! I was the winner! I make the rules." Matt jeered.

Allura covered her mouth to stifle her giggling.

Keith turned around, and headed to the bathroom, taking a moment to flip Matt off. Once the door was closed he turned to Lance.

"So what happened?" Keith asked.

"Aren't you forgetting 'in my pants'." Lance snickered.

"I'm not doing this with you."

"Not in my pants at least." Lance's laughter filled the tiny room.

Keith glared at him, trying not to let even a hint of a smile through on his face.

"Okay, okay!" Lance said, gesturing with his hands. "But I like this Matt, guy, I feel like we would have gotten along great!"

"Yeah, you two have similar annoying brands of humor." Keith said it monotone, before continuing in a quieter voice. "So what did you remember?"

"Oh! I _have_ met Pidge before. I met her through my friend Hunk!"

"Hunk?" Keith raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Hunk!"

"Ah, so this Hunk guy knows Pidge?" Keith prompted.

Lance nodded. "Yeah, I can't remember how they knew each other exactly, they weren't close friends or anything or I would have met her more often. And she's never been here before." He gestured to the space around him to indicate the apartment.

"So when did you meet?"

"Hmmm...that I'm not sure about exactly. It would have only been a couple brief times, but I do remember that she was supposed to come to Hunk's birthday."

"Okay, so why didn't she go?"

"She did. I mean, I think she did. Hunk mentioned something about her having a friend he wanted me to meet and had invited both of them along."

"So...what happened?"

"I dunno?" Lance said, shrugging his shoulders, before getting much more serious. "That was the night I died."

Keith frowned, puzzling over the thought, recalling his own memory before rejecting the thought outright. _That wasn't the same person._

"What else did you remember?" Keith asked instead.

"I just told you...nothing."

"No, not about the night you...died...in there." Keith pointed to the living room. "When Allura was telling the story of how she and Matt met, you jumped all of a sudden."

"Oh…that was-nothing."

Keith frowned at him, but it was pretty clear that whatever that was he wasn't going to get an answer tonight. He went back to trying to figure out who this Hunk guy might be.

They left the bathroom with Keith still puzzling over this new information. Lance was deep in thought as well. Keith wondered if he should ask Pidge about a friend named Hunk. He didn't want to risk her asking him how he knew him, though. And he was sure that Pidge had never mentioned anyone by that name. Keith definitely would have remembered.

Back in the living room Matt asked, "Do you want to play another game?"

Keith shook his head. "Nah, I'm not really feeling it anymore..." Matt's stifled laugh reminded him of the dare. He sighed. "...in my pants."

Matt and Pidge threw their heads back in laughter at the same time. They looked like a pair of hyenas.

"I'm gonna get more food...in my pants." Keith grumbled. The laughter got louder. Pidge had tears rolling out of her eyes.

Even in the kitchen there was no respite. The first thing Shiro said to him was, "Pidge told us about the dare so that you couldn't come in here to get out of it."

"Excellent. Glad she had the foresight to mention it, in my pants."

Adam and Shiro chuckled despite themselves. They at least had the respect to look apologetic about it.

Keith grabbed more food and then spent the rest of the night being the butt of the joke for five people and a ghost.

Even so, it was a good night. Keith had a lot of fun catching up and gossiping with his friends. By the end of the night he was almost sorry to see them all go.

"Have a great night in my pants." He said as he waved a red and teary faced Pidge and Matt out the door.

Almost.

* * *

"Hey, Lance?" Keith asked the darkness of the room. He couldn't tell if Lance was around, but he wasn't going to fall asleep without trying.

The party had been over for hours, the kitchen and living room cleaned up, and now Keith was lying in bed for the night, going over his thoughts from the day.

"Hmmm?" Was the ghost's reply.

"Thanks for helping me win...except when it actually counted."

Lance let out a laugh. It came out more like a bark.

"Actually, though," Keith paused. He wasn't sure how to word the rest of what he wanted to say. "I-I just was wondering if you were worried…"

"About what?"

Keith frowned, he knew it was risky bringing this up if it might upset Lance, but there was something about him. Keith actually might have started caring for him...even if it was only a tiny bit. "About forgetting things? I know I mentioned it might happen…"

"Ah…"

"I just...I wanted to say that I know I made it sound like I wouldn't help any ghosts with passing over, but that's not true."

"Keith-"

"No, I mean it. I want to help you if I can-"

"Keith-" He said it louder this time.

"And if you're not sure about what unfinished business you might have I can try to help with that as well."

"Keith!"

"No, Lance, it's important. You don't want to forget who you are. You don't want to turn into a poltergeist. If you can't remember I'll help you track down whoever and whatever information I can."

"Keith!" Lance said. His voice was angry this time. It was enough to stop Keith dead in his tracks. "I already know why I haven't moved on and I don't want your help."

The venom in Lance's voice surprised Keith. He wasn't sure where it came from. Even though the room was too dark to see, Keith could somehow tell when Lance's spirit disappeared a second later. It was as though the air pressure had suddenly shifted ever so slightly. Or like a crackling of static was suddenly gone from the back of Keith's neck and the baby hairs there could finally relax.

This time Keith definitely noticed the paper on his desk flutter into the air. The sight made him almost nauseous.

He didn't see Lance again for two days.

* * *

 **A/N:** Woooo!

Long chapter! Such a long chapter! And the next one's long too! I'm posting this early today because I have too much going on this evening, tomorrow's will come out sometime in the evening once I'm done editing it!

P.S. That is my favorite dare. It causes all night long hilarity in your pants.

See you tomorrow!


	3. Skeletons in Your Closet

Keith hadn't exactly disliked having a couple days to himself. There was definitely something nice about not having a big distraction while talking to people. He and Shiro could actually have a normal conversation without Keith being forced to go red in the face from stifling his laughter at something funny Lance had said

But then again, Lance wasn't around to say anything funny.

His absence was noticeable. Keith hadn't realized how used to being around the ghost he'd gotten. He'd never actually lived with one before, though, so it was a surprise to him how much Lance not being there irked him. Maybe it was just that it forced Keith to wait with bated breath. He knew Lance was going to show back up, but he had no idea or control over when or where.

Yeah, that was it.

That had to be it. There wasn't another explanation that Keith would accept. It certainly wasn't that he missed the guy. Him...miss a ghost!

Even so, there had been things that he had liked about Lance. He was funny. That much was a given. He was also cute, and that never hurt any guy's standing in Keith's book. He'd helped Keith win against Pidge and that was always a plus. He also clearly cared about his friend Hunk, and was confused about how to feel about his own death.

The joy, the concern, the love, the frustration, even the anger. It made Lance seem more alive than most people Keith knew. And he'd only known Lance for a few days. Maybe ghosts weren't all bad...maybe there was another way.

He couldn't imagine what knowing him for a lifetime would have been like. Lance was like sunshine. Lance's death sent a pang of remorse through Keith's chest. He'd died too early. The world needed more people like him.

Keith spent the two days going through the motions of his life. During the day he'd go to work. And then after he'd head to the gym for a couple hours and then he'd come home, crack open a drink, and wait for Shiro to make an appearance.

Even though he was an assistant, he ended up doing all the work and knew more about the cars than anyone else in the shop seemed to. He wasn't very good with people and ended up in trouble quite a bit, but they weren't likely to get rid of him anytime soon.

That day he was barred from working the front desk or answering the phones by his boss Rolo. After mouthing off to a couple customers Keith had to agree that it was probably a good decision on his part. He focused all the attention he could on the cars instead. They were much easier to work with. Cars made sense to him.

The gym also made sense to him. It was a place he could take any frustrations and let them out in a positive way. Shiro had taught him that. After dealing with too much loss in his life he'd needed some place to direct his anger. Fighting people had gotten him in too much trouble over the years. Paying the price in sweat was better than paying it in bruises and jail cells.

And then after all the work from the day he felt deserving of collapsing on the couch. It would have been the perfect time for Lance to appear, he'd actually be able to have a real conversation with him without looking like a lunatic or being confined to his room. But he never did.

On most days as the day turned slowly into night Shiro would walk through the door, usually with groceries in his arms, and they'd scrounge up something to eat while Shiro talked cheerfully about his day at work. Keith would ask questions every once in a while and Shiro would answer them. He liked his job as a security officer. He enjoyed working with Matt, although they both worked in the different departments. The job was worthwhile even though it had long hours.

Eventually they'd get tired and head off to sleep, or Adam would make an appearance and Keith would check out to give them a bit of privacy.

It was their routine. It had been Keith and Shiro's routine for the past couple years, too, with or without a ghost being added to the mix.

And yet by the second day Lance's presence was already heavily missed. Keith tried to relax on the couch after his long day and found himself wanting to call out to his friend. Friend. The thought surprised him, but he couldn't argue that somehow it was true.

Keith actually considered them friends. The thought terrified him a bit. Now he had half as many ghost friends as he had human friends. The idea made Keith's head spin a bit.

Instead he was forced to be alone. Usually he wouldn't have minded. He racked his brain, trying to figure out just where their conversation had gone south. There was obviously a lot that Lance wasn't telling him about. Something to do with his family, and whatever had him stuck in this world.

"Lance?" Keith called a few times. There was never any answer.

"Lance, if you're listening I'm sorry." Keith sighed. "I want to keep talking to you."

"Lance, you don't have to tell me what's going on. I don't need to know."

"Lance, you don't need to take my help if you don't want to."

"Lance, I won't ever bring it up again."

And finally, when he was sure Lance couldn't possibly be around, he'd started saying other things.

"Lance, I want to be your friend."

"Lance, I miss you."

Then after Keith had decided he didn't want to wait for Shiro in the living room any more and had decided to chill in his bedroom instead Lance had finally reappeared.

He didn't say a lot, didn't refer to anything Keith had said. He just simply said. "Hey, Keith...I'm sorry for disappearing on you."

Keith spun around to face him, allowing the relief to show on his face. "You're back!"

"Yeah. I was being stupid." Lance gave a sad smile to Keith. "Sorry about that."

"I'm just glad you're back!" Keith said. He would have hugged Lance if he was solid. Realizing how emotional he sounded, Keith took a step back, cleared his throat and said in a deeper voice. "It was getting boring around here without you."

Lance chuckled. "Yeah, you are pretty boring."

Keith rolled his eyes. "Alright, I changed my mind."

"Aw, don't be like that." Lance said it with a brighter smile on his face, clearly enjoying the joke.

"Just…" Keith shook his head, frustrated with Lance's teasing. "Where did you go?"

Lance frowned at the question. "Nowhere, I think. I'm not really sure exactly. It was sort of like I just chose not to exist for a while."

"Huh. I didn't know ghosts could do that."

Lance shrugged. "I didn't know either, but apparently we can."

"Huh." Keith sat down on his bed lost in thought for a minute.

"See? This is what I mean...bo-oring!"

"I'm thinking! That's not boring!"

"I mean, you have a guest right in front of you and choose instead to get lost in thoughts. That sounds pretty boring to me."

"I wouldn't exactly call you a guest." Keith said, rolling his eyes again.

"That's right. This is my house. That means you're disrespecting your host. Even worse!"

"Okay, then what do you suggest?"

Lance grinned wickedly. He had a sudden glint in his eye. He sat down on the bed next to Keith and tapped his fingers together. "We could haunt someone."

Keith laughed and laid back. "And how exactly would we do that? You can't exactly move objects around. And who would we haunt anyway."

"Right! So you would have to be my hands. And I dunno. Do you have any enemies?"

"Ha! Then wouldn't that just be a prank, not a haunting?"

"No! Anytime you have a ghost involved it's a haunting. Doesn't matter if the ghost needs help. And if we get caught you could always just say you were possessed."

Keith laughed. "Oh, yeah, great plan. I'm sure the cops would listen to that story."

"Okay, fine, it's a little ridiculous, but…" Lance emphasized the word. "You have to admit that I would make the best lookout ever."

Keith looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Lance pulled on each of his fingers in turn. "I'm invisible. I can go through walls. I can yell as loud as I want and only you can hear me. I can disappear and reappear at will. Am I missing anything?"

"Yeah, a sensible head on your shoulders."

"Ouch." Lance said, sticking his hands behind his head and lying back as well. "It would work! We just need someone to bring the suffering."

"And for that I have no idea."

"Seriously, no enemies at all?"

Keith thought for a moment. "I mean there was this one kid in school, James. He was always a dick. Made fun of me for not having parents a couple times."

"Wow...dick." Lance agreed.

"Yeah. But I feel like I'm over it. Most people didn't like me in school, so it's not like he was the only one."

"Okay, so new idea, we burn the school!"

Keith scowled at him.

"I'm kidding...jeez. I wouldn't actually suggest we commit arson."

"No. Not we. Me. I would be committing arson."

"So we're in agreement then! To the school!" Lance sat up sticking his finger in the air.

"Lance, no!" Keith through a pillow through him. He knew Lance was trying to joke but just ended up making Keith frown instead. Now's as good a time as any, he thought. "In all seriousness though I would never burn down a building. Remember the fire I said was set by a ghost...my parents...they…"

Lance looked horror stricken. He laid back down, facing Keith. He paused and stopped just short of grabbing Keith's hand. "Keith, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright. You didn't know. It happened a long time ago."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Honestly, I was so little I don't remember it all too much. I just remember smoke in the air, and my dad coming to grab me to get out of the house. But once we were outside my mom wasn't there, and he...he ran back in."

Lance let out a small gasp. His eyes filled with tears. "And they...did either of them…"

"No, they never made it back outside." Keith looked away, too full of emotion to meet Lance's eyes. He felt his eyes well, but held the tears back, he had cried about it enough when he was a kid.

"Keith…" Whatever Lance was thinking he didn't say anything else.

Finally Keith met his eyes again. They stared at each other for a few moments.

"I wish I could give you a hug." Lance said. "But since I can't, I want you to know that I'm thinking about giving you a hug right now. In my head you can cry into my shoulder for as long as you want to."

Keith choked out a curt laugh. They settled for looking into each other's eyes for a while longer.

"Lance…" Keith said. "Thanks."

Lance reached out a hand again to grab Keith's. He stopped short once more, but allowed just the tips of his fingers to stroke the back of Keith's hand. It still made Keith shiver, but it wasn't as intense as it usually was...it actually almost felt...warm? Keith closed his eyes to enjoy the sensation. He sighed.

Then Keith's phone rang, making them both jump.

Keith rolled of the bed to grab it from the desk. "Hello?"

"Hey! I need to ask you for a favor." The voice on the other side of the line said.

Keith sighed. It was just like Pidge to skip any sort of formalities and just get right to the point.

"So I have this friend who's been down for a while and I wanted to try to get him out of the house and interacting with people again."

"Uh-huh?"

"So I told him that we could all meet up somewhere for all-you-can-eat pancakes tonight."

"So I don't even get a choice...or a warning?"

"Nope!" She said cheerfully. "And this is your warning. The Vrepid Sal's Diner is near your new place meet us there in thirty."

"And what if I already had plans tonight?"

In response Pidge just laughed. "Good one."

"Okay, fine. Where is it exactly?"

"Ah hahaha! Good." She said before describing the address. "Oh, and if you could just be nice tonight, that would be great."

"I'm always nice!"

"Su-ure. He's just going through some stuff right now, and anyway you've actually met him once before so I thought it wouldn't be too weird for him to meet you again."

"I have? When?" Keith wracked his brains trying to think of anyone Pidge introduced him to recently.

"Back in January. You were my plus one to his party...you remember? At the arcade? Tsuyoshi?"

"Oh, yeah I think so." Keith remembered he had spent the first half of the night awkwardly trying to make small talk with a bunch of people he didn't know, although he did end up having a riveting conversation about knitting with one of Tsuyoshi's grandmothers. And then he spent the second half of the night drinking in the corner playing one of those coin-drop games.

"Perfect, see you soon!" She hung up the phone before Keith could even say 'bye'.

Keith looked at Lance, scowling. "Looks like I'm headed out tonight."

"Well you seem...excited by the very prospect, don't you?"

Keith's scowl got even deeper. "I'm not the type of person that likes last minute plans, or can pull together the energy for meeting new people on such short notice."

"Yeah, I get that. It's pretty obvious. But what can you do? You already said you'd go and it didn't sound like she was gonna let you out of that."

"Yeah, Pidge definitely has a way of getting what she wants one way or another. If I'd said no she would have found some way to get back at me at the very least. Keith shuddered for effect.

"She seems like the type of person who could give a poltergeist a run for their money."

Keith laughed. "Good way to put it."

Keith got to gathering his things, making sure he had his wallet and keys in the pockets of his jeans. Lance watched him silently, twiddling his thumbs and looking at the wall.

Keith was quiet too for a moment, until he realized. He had a feeling he was gonna regret this. "Did you want to come?"

"Really?" Lance asked, starting to smile. "You're not sick of me yet."

"You don't want me to answer that."

* * *

They walked to Vrepid Sal's mostly quiet. Well, Keith was mostly quiet. Lance was prattling on and on about this or that, and Keith was pretending that he didn't hear him so as not to catch any strange glances.

It was late enough that there weren't many people around, but early enough that it was still light out. An old lady was walking her dog coming up the sidewalk next to them. Lance pointed out a clothing store that he used to shop at.

"You could use some new clothes. No offense but the ones you have on are not exactly….uh…."

"What's wrong with my clothes?!" Keith shouted in spite of himself. The old lady jumped in surprise, looking at him with her eyes wide, before she quietly crossed the street with her dog and continued walking eyeing Keith suspiciously until she had passed by.

Keith sighed. He had to be more careful not to react. It was hard though. Not exactly ingrained in his nature to be passive. He looked at Lance out of the corner of his eye. "Please," was all he said.

Lance laughed. "I know, I know. But I was actually being serious. The manager of that store, Bo, could probably help you set up a new outfit or two. I mean, rips in your jeans? Sooo last year."

"For your information I have never purchased ripped jeans in my life, they rip because of use, not fashion."

"Even better then. You clearly need some new clothes."

"I doubt that would shut you up, so I think I'll pass for now."

Lance rolled his eyes. "Rude." He said, not sounding offended at all.

"Let's just get to the Sal's without any issues, okay?"

They walked the rest of the way in relative silence. Lance would still talk about things as they came to his mind, but he didn't try to make any more jabs at Keith to rile him up.

Once there Keith picked a corner booth where they wouldn't be disturbed but they'd be able to see Pidge and her friend when they came in.

Keith ordered a black coffee from the waitress who poured it for him quickly, and he settled in. He glanced at Lance who was inspecting all of the different pictures on the walls.

"You know I actually used to come here a lot."

"Hmmm…" Was all Keith said.

"Yeah, it was close to my place, had good comfort food, too. Hunk got along really well with the chef."

Lance settled in, looking at the menu in Keith's hands even though he wouldn't be able to order anything.

"The triple decker pancakes with berries and cream is really good!"

"Of course you'd get the sweetest thing on the menu…" Keith rolled his eyes.

"What was that? Did you just call me sweet because I like sweet things? Is that what you just did?"

"No…" Keith muttered quieter. "I said you liked sweet things because you're an idiot."

"I don't think that's true! I don't think you think I'm an idiot at all...in fact I'd say you might actually even like me!"

"That's not true." Keith said it too quickly.

"Oh, I think it is. I think you might even consider me a friend! I think you're completely transparent!"

"Stop it." Keith muttered. His face was turning red.

"Oh, don't be like that! Don't get all shy on me." His shoulder bumped into Keith's sending his a weird half shiver half comforting vibe. "For what it's worth, I'd call you a friend too."

Keith looked up and they made eye contact. Lance was smiling at him with a genuine grin on his face. Keith took notice of how much his blue eyes sparkled in the low light of the diner. The blush on his cheeks deepened making him quickly look away.

It was another minute before he heard the door jingle and Pidge walk in. Keith looked up to see her and waved her over before immediately going back to studying the menu.

He heard her and her friend continue their conversation. The friend was talking about the area, he had a deep voice, with a friendly tone. "Yeah, I used to live around here actually, but I moved not too long ago. That's how I knew about this place."

"Oh that's cool." Pidge replied. "Do they have good food."

"Very. And the chef's like family to me. Hey Sal!"

Keith mostly ignored the conversation. In fact it was Lance's shocked voice that made him finally look up. "Hunk?"

"Hunk?" Keith asked quietly, forgetting himself for a moment. He hadn't meant to repeat what Lance had said, but he had sounded so surprised, Keith couldn't help himself in the moment.

Keith looked up into the eyes of the stranger.

Tsuyoshi was a large guy about Keith's own age. He had a big barrel chest and eyes that permanently crinkled a bit in the corners, like he smiled a lot and was out in the sun often. His dark skin suggested lots of sunshine too.

At the moment he was stopped dead in the middle of the restaurant, staring at Keith with a shocked expression. His hand was still raised in greeting Sal, frozen in place. The blood appeared to drain out of his face, paler than the rest of him, but still tan.

"What did you say?" He asked.

"Uhhh…nothing."

Keith couldn't think of what to say, his mind had gone completely blank. He genuinely hadn't meant to repeat Lance, and hadn't realized what it meant until it was too late. Tsuyoshi was looking at Keith with such intensity that he wasn't sure if this guy was going to cry or to deck him.

"No you said something."

"Uhhh…"

Tears sprang into the corners of Tsuyoshi's eyes. Cry it was. "Nobody's called me that since…" He said it quietly until his voice broke.

"Uhhh….uhhh...uhhh…" Pidge said, panicking. She glared at Keith. "What did you say?" She whisper-yelled.

"No, I-" Keith started, but stopped suddenly when a tremor passed through his body as Lance tried to grab at his arm.

"It's my friend, Hunk! My old roommate!" Lance yelled.

Keith wanted to yell at him, 'not helping!' But he knew that it would just make the entire scene worse.

"Let's just all sit down, okay?!" Pidge said, grabbing Tsuyo-Hunk's arm gently and leading him into a seat at the booth. "We'll feel better if we eat some food...right? How about unlimited pancakes."

Hunk allowed himself to be lead by Pidge, but he wouldn't stop staring at Keith as though he had two heads.

Keith couldn't stop himself blurting out a rushed apology. "I'm sorry. I-"

"Keith! Keith! You've gotta let him know I'm here!" Lance said, trying to pull at Keith's arm again.

This time Keith ignored him.

"Where did you hear that name? Only one person ever called me that." Hunk's face was dark, he studied the menu furiously, focused on not allowing any tears to fall.

"I-it was-"

"Look how miserable he is, just tell him what's going on!" Lance was animated, trying to get Hunk's attention.

"It was just a coincidence."

"Keith! Please!" Lance was the one most panic stricken now. He was waving his arms frantically in front of Hunk's face.

"One hell of a coincidence.' Pidge said, raising her eyebrows.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Keith asked, offended.

"Nothing…" Pidge said, realizing in shock what she had said. "Let's just move past and get to food, okay?"

Hunk was still looking at Keith with a confused hurt in his eyes, but it was Lance's hurt pleading that was becoming painful for Keith to listen to.

"I'llberightback." He said, ducking out of the booth and almost running to the bathroom.

For a second he was alone, staring at himself in the mirror. He ran the sink splashing water in his face. This was turning into one hell of an evening.

A moment later Lance's visage floated through the door, clearly upset, but calmer than he had been at the table. "Please Keith, he's hurting. Can't you explain to him that I'm here?"

"No, I can't do that."

"Why not? Mediums do that sort of thing all the time. It's on tv."

"I can't do it, Lance!" He almost shouted it, but was trying to keep his voice steady so that no one outside the door would overhear.

"Why not?!"

"I've tried that before! It doesn't-"

"Well try again!" Lance shouted. He had no reason to stay quiet, Keith was the only one who could hear him anyway. The sound echoed around the bathroom walls.

"And spend another five years in a mental hospital! NO!" The last words got away from Keith, he was sure that someone outside of the room must have heard him.

Lance was quiet for a moment. Keith took the opportunity to splash more water in his face and comb his fingers back through his hair. In the mirror he could see how red his face had gotten, as he watched his reflection a loud clapping noise resounded and the mirror had a sudden crack the size of an arm's length.. He glared at Lance, sudden fear in both of their eyes. Lance had floated backward from the shock. Both of their tempers were getting away from them.

Keith ran back to the booth, he would have had to push past Lance to get through the door, but ended up running through him instead. It felt more like walking through water than walking through air and sent a chill down his spine as cold as a block of ice. Lance stayed exactly where he was in the bathroom, staring at the mirror.

"What was that?" Pidge asked, watching him walk as calmly as he could back to the table.

"Nothing." Keith said, hurriedly.

"No, this whole thing is weird! First you say something to upset my friend and then you run off to the bathroom and clearly break something? What is going on?"

"Drop it, Pidge...please." Keith pleaded with her, trying to make sure she knew how important it was by the look in his eye.

She chewed on her cheek for a moment before looking at Hunk. In a whisper, almost too quiet for Keith to hear, she said, "I don't think I can."

Keith looked at Hunk again as well. He was determinedly looking at the menu. His eyes appeared more puffy than they had before Keith had run off to the bathroom. He had probably let a few tears fall while Keith wasn't there and only had Pidge to console him.

Maybe it was the pressure of Pidge and Hunk deserving answers, maybe it was that he felt Lance deserved some small amount of happiness if Keith could bring it to him. If Lance was able to break something like a mirror...well Keith wanted to prevent his emotions from getting away from him. For whatever the reason Keith finally sighed and said. "Okay."

He knew how badly this could end for him. He knew from first hand experience how the world treated you when they thought you were a crazy orphan child with anger issues. At best, Keith could imagine they might think that he was crazy and accept him so long as he never mentioned it again. At worst, they would make sure Keith was sent to a nice community facility where he could live out the rest of his days. More than likely they'd just call him crazy and he'd never see them again.

He owed it to Lance to try, though.

So he said it again. "Okay, I'll tell you everything...but not here."

"Where?" Pidge asked.

"It's gonna have to be my place." He sighed before the realization hit. "Uhh...Tsuyoshi...it's gonna look familiar to you."

Keith looked down at the almost untouched black coffee on the table and threw down five dollars for the waitress. He then added an extra couple dollars because he felt bad they were leaving without eating anything.

"Alright, let's go." Pidge had helped push Hunk out of the booth and they were both pulling their jackets back on.

"Uhh...one more thing." Keith said, having another realization. "I...uh...left something in the bathroom. I'll be right back."

He ran off, leaving behind a bemused expression on Pidge's face. In the bathroom he saw Lance inspecting the crack he had made in the mirror. His fingers were lightly touching it, even though Keith knew Lance wouldn't be able to feel the sharp glass. Lance had no reflection, no way to see himself and to realize just how sad he looked.

"I know I mentioned before that I used to work really hard on my appearance." He said, not looking up. "I had nice skin and about a hundred different creams and gels to keep it that way. But I didn't tell you that now I'm honestly not sure if I can remember what I looked like. How is that even possible? How can someone forget what they looked like?"

He looked at Keith, panic clear in his voice and face.

Keith swallowed the lump in his throat. He didn't want to answer that questions. Instead he gestured at the mirror and asked, quietly. "Do you like your work?"

"How did I even do that?" Lance asked.

"I told you that you'd have to either be a bitter spirit or go too long without passing on to become a poltergeist." Keith paused, looking at Lance intently. "So which one are you?"

Lance looked back at the mirror. "I've only been dead for a few months." He whispered.

Keith allowed the concern to show on his face. Hoping it would help convince Lance of his help. "But you've also started forgetting part of your life. You couldn't remember where you'd seen Pidge before. Y-you just said you can't remember what you look like."

Lance was still quiet. "But I remembered Pidge eventually. And besides, I never had a good memory, even when I was alive."

"Lance…" Keith sighed. He hated this. He didn't want to force Lance to tell him anything private or personal, but he knew it was going to have to happen eventually. "I know I promised I wouldn't bring it up again, and I really really can't have you disappearing right now, so please, please don't be angry, but please consider taking my help. Okay?"

Lance said nothing. He only nodded, so that Keith would know he'd been heard.

Keith motioned towards the door. "We've gotta go. You were right...Hunk deserves to know."

Lance looked up at Keith, meeting his eyes. "You mean?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna tell them. I can't promise they're gonna listen, but I'll tell them."

* * *

Keith spoke on the walk back to the apartment. He wanted them-all of them-to understand why he was so reluctant to tell anyone about what he could do.

It had started when he was six years old. The fire that had destroyed his house and killed his parents had been declared a mystery of how it started.

But Keith had seen it. He'd seen the horrible ghost's face, smirking as it watched everything in Keith's life burn down.

"And...afterwards...ever since…" Keith shot Lance a look. "Well, I was put in foster care. I didn't have any relatives to take me in."

Foster care hadn't been so bad. Keith could remember his first foster mom had been a pleasant Lady. She fostered two other kids Keith's age, and they all went to school together. It was after one of the kids saw Keith talking to something invisible that things had gotten worse.

It was a strange thing. Keith and the other boy had been walking down the street without a care in the world, when he had seen it. The man was partially transparent, only visible from the neck upwards to Keith. He'd stopped to talk and asked him if he knew he was invisible.

The man had reached out to Keith, trying to grab him, alarmed that someone could actually see him. "You can see me?!" The man had shouted.

"Of course I can." Keith said, taking several steps back. The other boy had looked at the scene and asked questions, none of which Keith answered. He didn't even hear him. The man had started screaming at him, blocking out the rest of the noise on the street.

The man continued to cry and to scream at Keith, terrifying him. Keith froze in place, unsure of what to do, until he finally had the sense to run. The ghost followed him, and Keith had run faster, trying to escape through a park. His legs weren't fast enough, though. Ghosts didn't move like normal people. At one moment they'd be behind you, and at the next they'd appear right in front of your nose.

Keith had screamed. He terrified the other people in the park without even meaning to. They didn't know what to do with a frightened, screaming child. Keith had to fight his way through the crowd that had started gathering in order to keep running.

The other people had served one purpose, though. They blocked Keith from view of the ghost, just long enough for him to escape.

He ran home, completely forgetting about the other boy until he'd come home much later that night.

"Didn't you see it?" Keith had asked.

"There wasn't anything there. You just freaked out for no reason. You must be crazy."

That was when the rumors had started. It spread around school like wildfire. It was bad enough being a foster kid, but being the foster kid who saw ghosts was another thing entirely.

"Look, over there, that's the kid who sees ghosts."

They'd jump out of closets with sheets over their heads trying to scare him. They made noises behind him in class, when he was taking tests or studying. They'd poke him or tap his shoulder and when he looked to see who had done it, they'd say, "It was the ghost, don't you see him? He's over there."

If school hadn't been bad enough, his ability to see ghosts only got worse. They started appearing everywhere. Keith was terrified of them. He didn't understand why they were there, why he was the only one who could see them.

They were worse than Keith's classmates. He'd had one night where a ghost got into his room and kept him up all night long with her screaming. Another time he'd taken a detour through a graveyard and a few of the ghosts had started pushing him. They forced him down on the ground until some other person had walked into the graveyard, distracting them just long enough for Keith to run away.

And then it got worse.

One of the kids had found out about the fire that had left Keith an orphan. The worst rumor of them all started...that Keith, who was clearly unhinged and crazy and dangerous, had been the one who started the fire. He'd killed his parents and was cursed.

The children stopped speaking to him. They stopped even acknowledging him. They stopped their horrible antics of popping out of closets too, but it was all because they were too terrified he'd do the same to their parents.

That was the first time Keith had ever felt truly alone. Heartbroken of the loss of his parents and his friends, he didn't know what to do. He started acting out and was sent to the principal's office on multiple occasions. It was a month before one of the teachers noticed anything might be wrong with the way the other kids acted.

The teacher heard the rumor and took it to the principal. The principal was the one who took it to Keith's foster mother and to the police.

His foster mom was surprised when the police showed up at her door, but as a foster mom it wasn't the first time either. She lazily asked, "Which one did something this time?"

They took him to the station, locked him in a room. One of the detectives came in and asked him questions. He answered them as best he could. Another one came in with different questions and a lollipop.

He was there for a few hours before he finally let slip that he could see ghosts. The detectives had looked at each other with concern in their faces. They asked him about it, they didn't seem like they would make fun of Keith for it, so he answered them honestly.

They drove him somewhere else. A hospital. They checked him in to the psych ward. It was warm and bright and all the nurses smiled at him and gave him lots of attention. They were kind. They asked him about what he saw and gave him lollipops when he talked to them.

A couple weeks later Keith was moved once again. The same police officers escorted him from the hospital. He'd waved happily at his nurse. This time they took him to a fenced in group of houses. It wasn't warm or happy like the hospital had been. The other people in there stared at Keith, not really seeming to see him. Sometimes they'd look at him like they wanted to eat him for a snack. They were worse than ghosts.

The policeman described it as a "group home for mentally disturbed individuals." Keith didn't understand. He wasn't mentally disturbed. A group home was like a death sentence to a foster kid. Once you went in one, you'd never have a chance of being adopted.

The first year he acted out. He tried to escape, got into fights when one of the other patients or doctors looked at him funny. He broke some bones, and broke other people's bones too.

They gave Keith drugs that made him feel funny. He couldn't stand without feeling dizzy and his hair started falling out in clumps. He stopped acting out.

Then he started finding ways to avoid the medication. He'd hide it under his tongue, or swallow it and then immediately run to the bathroom to throw up. He'd hide it in his pockets and then pretend to swallow them. He stopped himself from acting out. Refused to let them notice that he wasn't on medication. He studied whatever he could from the books they had available to them.

The doctors relaxed around him. Keith would avoid the other patients as much as possible. Some of them were alright, but they were only here because someone felt that they couldn't be part of the outside world.

It took five years. Keith stayed at that group home for five long years. Partly from Keith's good behavior and of course from budget cuts they had decided to rehome him. "Rehome" is what they'd called it, was the word that they had used, as though Keith was a puppy that was going from home to home instead of an actual human person.

They stuck him in a normal group home for foster kids instead. He was 11. At this point he'd learned to keep his mouth shut about anything weird he saw. He smiled at the home's directors, did his chores, kept his head down. He didn't want to give them any reason to send him back. He didn't tell anyone where he'd come from, only said it was another "group home" if someone asked.

All of the effort didn't keep Keith out of trouble. Like a shadow over his shoulder, trouble seemed to follow him everywhere. He'd ignore any ghosts he saw. They were becoming more clear, which concerned him, but he could still tell them well enough apart. The other kids found ways to taunt each other without Keith ever having to give them ammunition. They teased him about his hair and clothes, even though their own stuff was just as bad.

Several of them had come from juvie. Most of them smoked. A couple of them smoked more than cigarettes. Keith would see them at school smoking along the one wall that was missing a camera. They'd skip class. They'd pull "pranks" at school or around town whenever they could. Small items would go missing from the stores around town. Lots of paint and hardware. Desks and lockers would get permanent marker. Stores would get their windows entirely blacked out. Graffiti would show up on the side of the group home and the directors would ask who did it. If you weren't one of them, you would become the scapegoat. Keith was punished for bad behavior he hadn't even done.

After a couple years it had all become too routine. Without realizing it Keith had become one of them. It was all too hard to go against these kids, and all too easy to get sucked in, doing one bad thing after another and trying not to get caught. Sometimes it felt more like daring the police to catch them in the act.

Keith ended up in juvie on more than one occasion in those years. The first time he was in for only a couple of months. The second time was a full year. He was passed around a couple different homes in that time. It didn't make a difference. The kids were the same regardless.

And then when he was 14 he stole a car. It was a dare from one of the other kids. They were talking about the biggest thing they'd stolen, which for Keith was a rolex watch right off of a stranger's wrist. The others decided he was lying. They claimed it was impossible.

And Keith, being a stupid and impressionable troubled kid, needed to prove himself.

The car he chose wasn't one of the fancier cars around. It was just a standard manual Subaru, that Keith figured he'd drive around for a bit, get some proof, before harmlessly dumping it on a public street and walking away.

He crashed it instead. Or a better explanation was that somebody crashed into him instead, because Keith had slammed on the brakes to avoid running over a ghost on the crosswalk. Of all the people they could have crashed into that day, they had to crash into the car being driven by an underage thief psychic.

Keith ran, but it didn't matter. The police had gotten some sort of photo evidence and tracked him down quickly enough. It was hardly surprising how fast they'd done it with the record Keith had stacked up at that point.

He figured he'd spend the rest of his childhood in Juvie.

Instead he met Shiro.

Shiro didn't press charges. He didn't speak much, only said that he'd drop all charges if Keith was required to do a year of community service for him. The judge and Keith had reluctantly agreed, but Shiro had been a police officer and knew the judge personally. Freedom was sweet for a moment.

"We'll be working with vets." Shiro had told him.

"Like with animals?"

"No, like veterans. People who've seen war, combat, and often lost limbs because of it. People like me." Shiro pointed to the fake arm.

"Oh."

"Honestly you helped me out a bit. I wasn't sure what to do with that car. I can't drive a manual anymore and I hadn't gotten around to getting a new one. I kept paying insurance on it every month while it just sat on the street."

"Oh...no problem."

Shiro had laughed at that. He clapped Keith on the shoulder like they were old friends. "Come with me to the VA on Monday after school. I'll show you around and what you'll be doing."

The next year was the best year Keith had ever had at that point in his life. Shiro taught him everything he could. He talked him into joining ROTC for some discipline and sense of accomplishment. It wasn't easy, but it was rewarding. Keith finally felt someone believe in him.

A year after meeting, Keith's service was done. He was hesitant to leave. The VA had made him feel capable and Shiro had turned his life around. Keith was afraid that it would all go back to the way it was before without them.

But it was Shiro who surprised him once again. He'd been working the last few months of Keith's service on getting his foster license. Shiro asked Keith if he wanted to become his little brother. Keith agreed, and for the first time since Keith was 6 he moved into a loving home.

And there Shiro had stuck by him even as Keith was denied from the military because of his background in the psych ward and criminal record. Shiro kept him working even as he graduated without a single idea of what he wanted to do with his life. Even years after the fact Shiro had made sure to stick by Keith and treat him with the utmost dignity and respect.

But Keith had also never told Shiro his secret. He'd assumed that the years in the psych home had been because of PTSD from Keith's parent's death, something Shiro had his own experience with.

But it wasn't. Ghosts were a part of Keith's life, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Keeping the secret had worn a toll on him. All Keith could hope for was that Pidge and Hunk would keep his secret, and that if they couldn't accept it they'd leave without making anything worse for him.

* * *

"And that's why I didn't want to tell you." Keith said, finally, stopping in front of the apartment building. He'd edited the story down. They didn't need to know everything, just enough that they'd get it.

"Keith, that's a horrible story." Pidge said, mouth aghast in the shock of it all.

"I know." Keith said, not looking at her. He looked at Lance instead. His eyes were dark, but full of compassion.

"I'm sorry." Was all Lance said.

"But...it's in the past now. And...we're here." Keith gestured up at the building looking at Hunk expectantly.

"But this is…"

"Yeah."

"No, this is-" Hunk started again, not believing Keith already knew.

"Yours' and Lance's old apartment."

Hunk looked at Keith with surprise running across his face. Even Pidge looked bewildered.

"You knew Lance?" Hunk asked.

"Uh...no. I've never met the guy, not really." Lance choked out a slight laugh from somewhere behind Keith.

"So you found some of his stuff or something? That's how you knew my nickname?"

"No, that's not quite it either...I mean the apartment was completely cleared out when Shiro bought it." Keith said, frowning. It was the moment now, the moment Keith would have to come clean and tell them everything.

"But then how did you…" It was Pidge's turn to ask.

"Lance...he told me himself."

"But you just said-"

"I know!" Keith interrupted Hunk, showing him the palms of his hands to keep him calm. "I never met him, not while he was alive…"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Pidge and Hunk asked at the same time.

"I-I can talk to ghosts."

* * *

 **A/N:** Poor Keith...

Wooh! I told you it'd be another long one didn't I! We're getting into some of the more angsty stuff, but there is more to come. More humor too!

Next chapter's going to be shorter...and by shorter I mean ~5k words instead of 7k like the last two monsters of a chapter have been. I'm still not completely finished with the story, but I'm getting closer and writing like a maniac!


	4. One Foot in the Grave

"That's not possible, Keith." The frown of concern playing on Pidge's face made her look older. "Ghosts aren't real."

Keith knew that this would be the reaction, and yet he still wasn't prepared for it. He sighed, leading the way through the front door and up into the apartment. "Come on."

The others followed him silently, neither of the two who were alive looked happy. Hunk was glowering at Keith and Pidge looked uncomfortable.

Keith opened the door and ushered them inside. He checked briefly to see if Shiro was home yet, and upon making sure that he wasn't went back into the living room with the others.

He pointed with his thumb at Lance, who was sitting on the floor, near the couch, biting his lip. "Lance is sitting over there, biting his lip. He's the one that told me your nickname."

"It's not okay to joke about this, Keith." Pidge said, looking a bit sick.

"I'm not!"

It was Hunk's turn to voice his disbelief. "He was my best friend, I can't put up with you mocking me about him."

"I'm not-I wouldn't do that. You haven't known me very long, but I would never joke about something like this." Keith looked at Pidge, pleading her to help him, to back him up, to believe him.

She closed her eyes, still visibly uncomfortable. "It's not...I don't know...you never seemed like the type of person to lie about something like this...but Keith, this is all too unbelievable."

"If you already made up your mind as to if I was telling the truth, why did you come?" Keith was starting to get upset. He knew this was going to be the outcome, he shouldn't have even tried in the first place.

"I don't know! I-I-because I thought there was something else, not just the supernatural!"

"I don't know how to convince you that I'm not lying, but you just have to believe me for a second! Lance really is right there! I really can see ghosts!"

"I'm leaving." Hunk pulled himself off the couch, looking like he was going to be sick.

"No!" Lance said, standing up. He moved in front of the door even though it was pointless. He couldn't block the door or do anything to prevent Hunk from moving as a ghost.

"Stay for just a little while longer, until I can figure out how to convince you! Please!" Keith begged.

"No." Hunk started to move towards the door, walking directly through Lance's arm causing him to shiver.

"Keith! Do something!" Lance yelled.

Keith opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He couldn't think of any words to convince Hunk to stay, let alone believe him. He closed his mouth, defeated.

"Keith! Tell him-tell him-he's missing his cool space themed shoelaces!"

"What?!" Keith shouted.

"What?!" Pidge and Hunk shouted back.

"Tell him!"

"Uhhh...Hunk, you're missing your cool shoelaces." Keith felt lame saying it. It made no sense.

"What?" Hunk and Pidge said again.

"Space themed shoelaces. Not just any shoelaces. Tell him he doesn't look cool without them." Lance emphasized.

Keith raised an eyebrow at him, frowning, before turning to Hunk. "You...you, uh, don't look cool without your space themed shoelaces."

"What did you just say?" Hunk's words were calmer, but he looked even more like he was about to throw up.

"Uhhh...something about your space themed shoelaces…"

"What else?"

"Uhhh…" Keith looked at Lance for help.

Lance's face had perked up. He thought quickly before he spoke. "Tell him to remember when we met in 3rd grade, and the first thing I started talking to him about were his shoelaces, because i thought they were so cool. Tell him that I called him 'Space Ace' for a while until some girl in the class said he was a hunk, and then I called him that instead to tease him."

"Uhhh…" Keith wanted to yell at Lance, 'Isn't that a little personal?' but was stuck just looking at him instead.

Then Hunk started to move towards the door again.

"Keith!" Lance begged.

"Wait! Uhhh...uhh...don't you remember when you and Lance met and he called you 'Space Ace' because of your shoelaces, and then started calling you Hunk because of some girl in 3rd grade…?"

Hunk stopped at the door, turning to Keith. "The girl was in 4th grade."

"We met in 3rd grade!" Lance shouted.

"Oh, sorry, the shoelaces were in 3rd grade." Keith apologized to Hunk. He was getting a bit frustrated, this was like playing an incredibly important game of telephone and Keith hated how bad he was at it.

"Keith! Ask him if he remembers...doesn't he remember that I stopped talking to him for a month because I had a crush on the girl who said that to him."

Keith's cheeks turned slightly pink. He hadn't really thought of Lance having crushes before that moment...but of course he would have. "Uhh...Hunk, don't you remember Lance ignoring you for a month because he liked that girl-the one who called you a hunk?"

Hunk remained quiet, his hand rested on the door handle, but he didn't move to open it.

Lance continued, looking at Hunk instead of at Keith. "Our friendship was worth more than any girl, though, and we made a promise to each other that we weren't gonna let anyone come between us."

"Uhh-your friendship...your friendship was worth more than any girl. You made a promise to each other that no one was gonna come between you."

Lance continued. "Well, now I'm gonna have to break that promise because the only way we can even talk is if Keith is the middleman, so you're just going to have to believe him, because you've been sad, but I've been ALONE for months."

Keith meant to say the words, but he just mouthed them, nothing but air coming out of his mouth. Lance turned to send a pleading look to Keith again, but Keith was hardly paying attention. Did Lance really have to word it in such a way that made it sound like Keith was a girl he and Hunk were fighting over? He tried to say them again, but his face turned even pinker and nothing came out.

Pidge saved him by clearing her throat. It made Hunk and Lance both jump, as though they had forgotten she was even there.

Keith pulled together what he could of his composure. "Hu-hunk, Lance needs you to believe me. Of course you've been upset that he's dead, but he's not gone. He can't talk to you, he has no way to communicate with you without me, and he's been alone for so long now. Isn't it worth the chance?"

Hunk stayed quiet for a moment looking at the floor instead of at Keith. "I don't like this." He finally said.

Pidge took the opportunity to speak. "I don't either, but it's all we've got."

She motioned for Hunk to join her on the couch, and much to Keith's amazement he did. By some miracle his two friends had accepted him, deep dark secret and all. He had no experience in what to do next.

It was Lance who broke the silence. He touched Keith's shoulder gently, sending less of a shiver and more of a gentle warmth through Keith's body.

"Thank you." He choked out.

Keith nodded at him, throat suddenly too dry to speak. He cleared it before speaking to his friends. "Do-do you have any questions?"

"Only about a million." Pidge said dryly. It made Hunk laugh.

A strange sort of ease fell over the room as they talked. Hunk and Pidge took everything Keith said seriously. It was jarring for Keith to be able to talk about it all with people who actually believed him.

Naturally they talked about Lance, how he was doing, what being a ghost was like, and Lance would give his thoughts on different subjects. Keith would act as parrot when he needed to. They even talked about how Hunk and Pidge met, through some sort of after school program connecting brilliant high schoolers to talented college students. There were also a lot of questions for Keith, about why he could see ghosts and why not everyone could. Keith didn't have all the answers.

"Honestly, I really don't know."

Hunk also needed to feel some sort of closure after everything. His questions were focused on how Lance was doing, on if he missed being alive. Without warning Hunk asked if Lance had checked in on his family.

"I tried to contact Veronica a few times since the accident, but she hasn't been answering me. I figured she was just in mourning."

"I wouldn't know. I haven't seen them recently." Lance said it carefully, evenly.

The words made Keith frown. Hadn't he told Keith that he hadn't seen his family at all since his death? Keith decided not to mention it. Whatever was going on was Lance's business. Keith repeated what Lance had said word for word.

Hunk on the other hand had no such hesitation. "I've been really worried about all of them. You were all so close. I know they have to be taking it hard."

"Yeah." Lance looked away, looking uncomfortable.

Unfortunately Hunk couldn't see Lance to be able to notice. He was lost in his own thoughts and memories. "Remember the time we all went out to camp at Carter Lake, and Veronica fell down and twisted her ankle and you carried her four miles back to our campsite?" Hunk laughed. "I joked with you that I never would have done that for one of my siblings, at most I would have carried them potato sack style. But you were always a good brother. To be fair you did tease her horribly afterward, pointing out the fact that it was her younger brother that was doing all the heavy lifting. She threw a sleeping bag at your head."

Hunk laughed again, happy to remember a cheerful memory.

Without warning the potted plant behind Keith fell over. The cracking sound of the pot hitting the ground made Keith wince. He looked at Lance with concern. Pots don't just fall off of tables for no reason.

Lance wasn't looking at him, but was looking at the ground instead.

"Lance?" Keith prompted, hoping he would explain what just happened.

Lance's reply was quiet. He looked sad and tired. "I don't remember."

"What?"

Lance looked at the potted plant on the floor. "I'm sorry...did I do that?"

"I think so."

Lance looked back at the floor. "Sorry."

Keith moved to pick it up, noticing a large piece of the pottery had broken off. Keith put the pot back on the table, but it had left a good sized pile of dirt in its wake. Pidge ran into the kitchen to fetch the broom, but Hunk was just looking at Keith, had been trying to follow the conversation that he could only hear half of.

"What happened?"

Now it was Keith's turn to look uncomfortable. "Lance says...he doesn't remember the camping trip."

"Does that happen?"

"Yeah. The longer a ghost stays on Earth...yeah." Keith shot a look of concern in Lance's direction again. Lance was still looking determinedly at the floor.

Once Pidge was back and they had cleaned up the mess she changed the subject to more of the mechanics of dying.

"So do all people who die get stuck wandering around Earth as a ghost? Is that just what happens after you die?"

"Well, no, not really." Keith answered. "I don't really know what happens exactly, but not everybody gets stuck as a ghosts and most ghosts end up moving on eventually."

"Moving on?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm not sure where. They only seem to get stuck on Earth when they have business they need to finish. Once they're done...poof?" Keith made a motion with his hands to demonstrate.

Hunk frowned. "What does unfinished business mean?"

"Uh...I don't really know, it depends on the ghosts. They all have different reasons for staying around. Maybe it's to see their grandchild grow up or because they need to reconcile with someone. It depends."

"But Lance doesn't have any grandkids, and he couldn't stay mad at anyone for long. So why is he still here?'

"Uh…" Keith wasn't sure how to answer. He had already upset Lance once trying to figure out why, he didn't want to upset him again. "I don't know."

"You don't know? But I thought you could talk to him. Isn't that something he'd want you to know, so that you could, I don't know, help?" Pidge asked.

"Yeah, that's a lot of ghosts." Keith said nodding, trying to change the subject a bit. "Most of the time they seem to try and hunt people like me down just to be able to help them, and if I can't they tend to just get angry."

"Is it difficult?"

"It can be difficult sometimes." Keith said, getting lost in thought. "Depends on the person. Some ghosts have more unfinished business than others, and that keeps their soul from moving on, some never do, and they turn into dark, evil spirits that hurt people."

The room went silent. Realizing what he'd said, Keith tried to backpedal.

"Evil spirits are fairly rare though. Most ghosts move on naturally, and pretty quick."

"But Lance hasn't." Hunk said it quietly.

The room was silent for a minute. Lance had turned away from the group and was inspecting his own fingernails. Keith watched him as he finally stood up and left the room, going who knows where. Keith hoped it wouldn't take him days to come back this time.

"Lance." He breathed, but Lance didn't turn to look. Keith couldn't tell if he was upset or not.

Hunk and Pidge watched Keith's face, studying it, looking in the direction of his stare but seeing nothing. After another second Keith shook himself out of it.

"Sorry…"

"What just happened?" Pidge asked.

"Lance left."

"He left?"

"Yeah."

Hunk chimed in. "Where did he go?"

Keith shrugged.

"But why?"

Keith shrugged again, speaking quietly. "I don't know. I'm not really sure. I think it has something to do with why he can't pass on."

"So we've got to help him! Right?" Pidge said, looking determined.

"That's the thing, though. I want to. I've offered, but…"

Hunk and Pidge seemed to hold their breath as Keith choked on the last words.

"But?"

"He won't tell me."

They sat in silence for another moment. This time it was Pidge who broke it.

"But why not?"

Keith shrugged again, head sinking into his hands. "I don't know. I asked him about it before, but he said he wouldn't talk about it. And...and whatever it was made him mad."

"Lance isn't someone who can get upset by just anything. Was it something you said?" Hunk asked.

It wasn't meant to be insulting, but it made Keith feel worse. His head sunk lower into his hands. He pulled his feet up to his chest, hiding himself a bit. "No, it wasn't...I don't know how to describe it. I think it has something to do with his family."

"But Lance has a great relationship to his family. They're extremely close. Always have been."

"But everytime they come up something moves...or breaks…"

Pidge whispered. "Breaks...as in...it's happened before...the plant falling...as in...?"

"Yeah...as in he's becoming a poltergeist."

Hunk let his emotions get the better of him. "But you said..!"

The shout made Keith sink into himself even further. "I know. Poltergeists are evil spirits who have been on Earth too long. I know, okay?!"

Hunk and Pidge made eye contact, looks of worry mirrored in their faces.

"It's getting worse too. He's broken things other times when he's gotten mad. Like the mirror at the Sal's."

Pidge went wide eyed. "That was him?! That loud cracking sound?"

"But he's never been an angry person?" Hunk said, trying to figure it out like it was basic algebra. "How can he become an evil spirit?"

"I don't know." Keith's eyes watered slightly, he was glad he was still hiding his face. "For whatever reason spirits can't stay on Earth without…"

The silence this time was deafening. Hunk and Pidge leaned back on the couch, deep in thought. Keith stayed still, holding his legs to his chest and wishing that Lance had more time.

"Then we've got to help him." Hunk whispered.

As they talked, night fell. Lance didn't come back, but Shiro did. He opened the door to the apartment and was incredibly surprised to hear more than one voice.

"Oh..uh...hi, Pidge...uh…"

"Hunk." Hunk said, standing up to shake hands with him. Pidge and Keith raised their eyebrows at him. "What? I always did like the nickname better."

They shrugged, keeping their expressions nonchalant, but Keith had the faintest hint of a smile playing at his lips.

Shiro looked at them. "I guess I'm gonna go order us all some food, before I join you. Pizza?"

"Yes please!" Pidge shouted as Shiro walked into the kitchen. She leaned down to whisper in Keith's ear. "Does he know?"

Keith shook his head.

"Then we need to find somewhere else to talk."

Keith thought about it for a second. "Hey Shiro?"

"Hmm…" Shiro popped his head around the corner.

"Uh...Hunk's actually here because he was telling me about…" Keith looked at Pidge and Hunk for a moment before gaining inspiration. "About the college program he's in."

Shiro's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean…"

"Yeah, Pidge knew him because he's her college mentor. But...uh…"

Shiro raised his eyebrow. He looked every bit like a dad proud of his kid.

"Uh...I kind of wanted it to be a surprise, since I'm still not sure, can we..." He gestured to Hunk and Pidge, "talk about it in private? I'm just not ready to talk about it with you, honestly."

Keith felt bad lying to Shiro, but he didn't really have a choice. He knew that Shiro really wanted him to pick a path in life for himself, it didn't really matter what. Working in a garage was great, and all, but he was getting paid pennies without a vocational certificate. And if college was what Keith wanted, then Shiro would support that too, just so long as he had some sort of a plan for the rest of his life. Shiro wasn't one to push Keith before he was ready, but he was not going to let himself get in the way of Keith's future.

Shiro's eyebrows went up even more. "Yeah, sure, uhhh… how about I go….and spend the night with Adam?"

"Thanks, Shiro." The relief showed in Keith's face.

Within twenty minutes Shiro was back out of the door again. Hunk and Pidge played along beautifully. Hunk was detailing out all sorts of information about his program. Whatever it was, it was way too technical for Keith's tastes, but Keith played along pretended to be interested for the sake of the charade.

Shiro waved goodbye before leaving and they all waved back.

As soon as the door was shut Pidge said. "We probably should order pizza."

Keith laughed, but went to go grab the phone. A hungry Pidge was not a Pidge to be messed with. When Keith got back the other two were on the couch in deep discussion.

"So did we figure anything out yet?" He asked.

"No, but Hunk had an idea. Maybe if we can figure out what Lance is mad about we can help him."

"But how do we do that without asking him? He won't tell us."

"We go back over the night that he died." Hunk said. "There has to be some clue that we're missing."

Keith nodded. "You would know the story the best out of any of us. Lance didn't tell me much about it, although he did mention trying to haunt the guy that killed him for a while."

Pidge and Hunk looked at each other.

"What?"

"So…" Hunk said. "Lance knows who killed him?"

"Well, yeah, I imagine most ghosts do."

"There goes my first theory." He looked at Pidge again, concern showing on his face, before glancing back at Keith. "It was a hit and run."

* * *

Hunk's birthday was supposed to be a good one, Lance assured him. He was officially turning 19, the last of the teen years, and Lance knew that they had to make this year count.

"It's just a birthday. Don't get carried away." Hunk had warned him.

Not that it made any difference. Lance was Lance after all. "Don't you worry, bestie." He pointed from his nose to Hunk's. "I'm going to make sure that you have the best birthday ever."

Far from making him comfortable, the reassurance made Hunk more concerned than ever. Lance was a great guy, but also had a tendency to go over the top or only plan things half way. "Okay, if we're gonna throw a party I want to be included on every single step."

"Okay, okay…" Lance pouted. "No fun, but here's what I was thinking."

Lance laid out the plans one by one for Hunk. They were going to do it at an arcade. It was going to be at one of those big fancy joints that had plenty of space for seating and food, that was Hunk's grandma wouldn't get stuck having to watch everyone else play shooting and racing games while twiddling her thumbs. Of course, Lance made it clear that granny was definitely welcome to play as many shooting games as she liked. Hunk couldn't really imagine a gun in his grandmother's hands, though, even if it was a fake one.

An arcade was also a good neutral ground, it mean they wouldn't have to figure out food or clean up after everyone. All we'll need to get is a cake.

"Am I gonna have to make it?" Hunk asked.

"Of course not. It would be a crime to make your own birthday cake."

Hunk raised his eyebrows. Lance was a lot of things, but a cook was not one of them.

"I'm going to buy one. Don't worry, I won't make you suffer through something that I made."

"Oh thank god." Hunk laughed, and Lance glowered at him.

"I'm not that bad at cooking."

"I once walked in on you with your hands in a bowl of brownie batter, furiously stirring."

"It said to hand mix!"

There was a moment of pause where they looked at each other before they both cracked up laughing.

"Okay, okay, that one's on me." Lance said, a smile as wide as his face played up his cheeks.

They spent the next hour talking over the rest of the details for the party. Hunk managed to veto a couple of the more extravagant ideas. No, they were not having fireworks. No, he was not going to get his 80 year old grandmother to be part of a flash mob. No they were not going to rent a petting zoo outside.

Lance had run off shortly after that, furiously party planning and getting everything ready for 'Hunk's special day', as he called it.

Everything had seemed to come together smoothly up to the night of the party. Hunk didn't remember Lance acting strange before, but he did take a drive down to visit his sister Veronica the day before. He'd returned late in the evening after Hunk had already gone to sleep and then slept in the next morning until well after Hunk had left.

On the night of the party Hunk had shown up to the arcade first. He wanted to be there before all of his guests. His mom and brothers had arrived next, followed by a couple of school friends and the rest of his extended family.

After that Lance had texted him.

"Gonna be late srry"

It wasn't a surprise. Lance was almost always late. He'd become an expert in sneaking into his classes past the teachers after they had already started lecturing. Everyday Hunk expected Mr. Iverson to turn around and notice that Lance was creeping past 10 minutes after class started, and everyday Hunk was surprised when Lance made it to his seat unmaimed.

Hunk texted him back a quick, "dont forget the cake", before continuing to enjoy the party.

Pidge and Keith had arrived sometime after that. Hunk had greeted them before running off to play some arcade game with one of his brothers.

It wasn't until another half hour had passed that Hunk had started to get worried. He texted Lance again, asking where he was.

After another 10 minutes he'd called Lance. It went to voicemail after a couple rings. Hunk figured his friend must have gotten distracted somehow. Maybe some attractive person had walked by at the bakery and Lance had dropped everything to talk to them. It would be something he would do.

Hunk tried to convince himself it was nothing, and went back to enjoying the party. The feeling that something was wrong couldn't quite be shaken. Hunk ignored it as best he could, continuing to tell himself that Lance was just being a flirt.

After another hour the story stopped convincing him. Either Lance was a really bad friend and was standing up his bestie at the party he himself had planned, or something was wrong.

It wouldn't make sense for Lance to be talking to some random hottie for an hour when he was already late. Lance and Hunk had promised long ago that they wouldn't let anyone come between them. And besides, Lance knew Hunk had set up a blind date for him at the party anyway. Lance would have been standing up two people.

Hunk's grandma went to soothe her grandson's distress in a way only grandmothers know how. She rubbed his back and told him that worrying would not help. The only thing to do was hope Lance turned up eventually and ask him what happened when he finally did. It was probably nothing serious, and he should enjoy his party as much as possible.

He went to apologize to Pidge, for ignoring her, and the two ran off to play more video games shortly after that. Keith at that point was deep in conversation with Hunk's other grandma.

Finally the party started winding down. Most of the people had left, and Lance still hadn't shown. No text or call had been answered either. Hunk gave a silent prayer that Lance would be at home, asleep and that he would be able to wake him up by yelling at him. The knot in his stomach said something else.

The empty apartment became an omen. Hunk waited up for another couple hours, but finally was forced to head to bed. He needed sleep to deal with whatever was going on.

When he woke up he next morning and Lance was still missing, Hunk started running through all the possible scenarios. Lance had spent the night at some lover's house. Lance was in the hospital. Lance was at his family's home. Lance was in jail.

But then wouldn't he have his phone on him? The voice in the back of Hunk's mind was a bastard.

But maybe he lost his phone. If he's in the hospital he may not have it. If he's in jail he definitely wouldn't.

Hunk wasn't sure what to do. He could call hospitals in the area, but he doubted any of them would give him the information.

He texted Lance's sister, Veronica, asking if he was there.

There was no reply from her either.

It's probably nothing. Hunk said to himself.

He texted Lance a few more times. He texted a few other people who knew Lance asking them if they'd seen him. Everytime Hunk's phone buzzed he'd jolt up to look. It was always someone other than Lance, and always with no news.

Hunk called his grandma. She comforted him and then told him to ask the police.

The walk from the apartment wasn't too far from the police station. Hunk figured the fresh air would do him some good, anyway. He supposed he could have called, but he wanted to talk to a real person. He couldn't stand to go through one of those robotic answering machines pressing button after button only to realize he made a wrong selection and would have to start all over.

"My friend is missing. He's been gone for more than a day, hasn't returned any texts or calls, and no one I know knows where he is."

The police officer was a woman with a kind face. She took him to an office where she asked him a bunch of questions and had him fill out a few forms.

"Stay here for a half hour while I run the initial report. If there's any news about your friend's whereabouts already it should show up by then." She pointed Hunk across the street. "If you'd like there's a coffee shop just over there, you may as well get something to eat and drink while you wait."

Hunk thanked her before leaving.

He welcomed the smell of fresh coffee when he stepped inside the shop. The baristas smiled at him as he ordered and he stepped to the side of the queue to wait. He casually watched the news scroll by on a little tv in the corner. It was muted, so he had to read the captions to catch any of it.

Just something about a car crash and something else about some old woman's prized tomato garden.

Hunk got his coffee and left to go back to the station. As soon as he arrived inside the kind police officer found him. She had been waiting.

"I'm so sorry, it didn't take very long." She looked tired and concerned, maybe even a bit upset. "We found your friend. You're going to want to have a seat in my office."

Hunk was about to say, "oh, thank goodness," but something in the officer's expression stopped him. There was definitely something wrong.

She closed the door before she gave him the news.

Only a few minutes after Hunk had texted Lance about the cake, someone had crashed into Lance's car hard enough for it to roll several times off the road. Lance's head had struck both the window and the door frame. By the time the paramedics had arrived, whoever had caused the accident was already gone, and Lance had been dead for several minutes and unable to be revived.

The funeral was a week later. Hunk had brought flowers, but they didn't make him feel any better. He'd hugged Lance's family who had taken it particularly hard.

* * *

"It was Lotor."

The voice came from behind Keith's shoulder so quietly it made him jump. As he whipped around, the sudden movement gave him a crick in his neck and he had to shut his eyes tight and rub it as the pain subsided. When he opened them he could see a calm and quiet Lance watching him.

"What did you say?" Keith asked.

"It was Lotor. That billionaire son who inherited one of the most powerful tech companies, Galra, Inc. It was him. He was piss drunk and speeding."

"Wait!" Keith whipped back around to stare at Pidge. "Both Shiro and Matt work for Galra, Inc. Allura lives in the same building as that guy!"

Pidge stared at him confused. "I'm honestly not sure why you suddenly brought that up, but judging by the neck cardio you just did to look at that potted plant in the corner, I'd say Lance is back and he just told you something. Hey, Lance." She waved at the chipped potted plant.

"Hey, Pidge." Lance waved back, even though she couldn't see him.

Keith grabbed at Hunk and Pidge's arms. "Lance just told me it was Lotor."

"Who? What?" Hunk asked.

"Who caused the accident. Driving drunk. Crashed into Lance. Killed him."

"Woah, woah, woah! How does he know?" Pidge asked.

"I used my ghost powers." Lance rolled his eyes.

"He says he saw him after he turned into a ghost." Keith said, earning a glare from Lance.

"So what do we do? It's not like we can march up to him and accuse him of killing our friend. He's a billionaire! He probably has an army of lawyers at his disposal." Hunk said, chiming in.

"His car's still smashed to hell, the one he hit me with. He can't get it fixed without reporting an accident. It's in his private garage." Lance said it casually, and when Keith glanced around he was the image of casual, gently stretching his muscles and yawning.

"How do you know that?" Keith asked.

"Well, obviously, as I already told you I tried to haunt the guy. Why wouldn't I try to take out my frustrations on his army of pristine vehicles."

"Lance says that Lotor still has the busted car..."

"That's evidence." Pidge sounded slightly impressed.

"But how would we be able to get that evidence to the police?" Hunk asked.

"Hmmm...we're a mechanic, a couple of mad scientists, and a ghost with access to three separate employees of Galra, Inc…" Keith pointed out.

"Yeah, we probably can't think of anything…" Said Pidge.

Hunk, Pidge, and Keith looked at each other for a moment before all of them burst into laughter at the same time.

"Well we definitely can't ask Shiro to help us." Keith rubbed his chin, thinking. "He could lose his job. Plus he would be mad if he found out I was doing something outside the law again."

"Yeah, I doubt he would help us. He doesn't seem like the type." Hunk agreed.

"Matt's in the same boat." Pidge said. "I don't want to be responsible for him losing his job. I mean, he'd certainly be up for raising hell on a dick like Lotor, but I don't want to ask that of him. Besides, he and Shiro are very close. I'm not sure he could keep it much of a secret."

"Allura's closer to Matt than to Shiro." Keith said, thinking. "And she lives in the same building which would give us access to the garage."

"Yeah! Plus she's at least as devious as I am!" Pidge smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. Both Hunk and Keith scooted away from her a bit.

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm getting to the point where I'm in trouble. I have no idea how I'm gonna finish this in time I'm still not done with chapter 5, but I'm so soooo close! I just have to kick my own butt tomorrow is all...

There wasn't a lot of humor in this chapter, and it's definitely marking the point where the story starts to get more serious, but not to worry there are lovely moments you can laugh at in the next bit...and also moments that might make you cry...

Anywho! I'll see you tomorrow! Thank you so much for reading! I'm loving all the comments and theories you've been sending my way. If you're interested in getting to know me outside of fanfiction you can always follow my on tumblr seeminglycaptivating I don't post a lot about my stories but I enjoy talking to people who like my work and talking about fandom a lot!


	5. Paranormal Investigations

They ended up spending the night at Keith's. It was too late for them to all go home and without Shiro around there was plenty of room available. They didn't really want to leave Lance alone either. Now that Hunk and Pidge knew he was around, they felt much better staying nearby.

In the morning they went back to Vrepid Sal's and actually managed to eat something this time. They'd planned a lot during the night and it had made them hungry.

Pidge and Keith ate their pancakes with three in one forkful. Hunk was a bit more of a delicate eater. He chewed slowly, thoughtfully and was more interested in where Sal could have gotten such incredibly delicious syrup than in shoving the food quite so erratically into his mouth.

It took them a while to pay and to let Allura know they were coming over because they needed help with something. They tried to keep it brief, they didn't want any evidence on their phones against them. No, the best thing to do was to meet up in person. They grabbed an extra to-go box of pancakes as a gift for Allura before leaving.

The apartment building Allura and Lotor lived in was gigantic. It had more than 20 stories, was right in the middle of the nice part of downtown, and even had a doorman.

He opened the doors for them and they piled inside. The Lobby was bright and airy. The man behind the front desk twirled his orange mustache at the sight of them.

"Can I help you? Who are you here for?" He spoke in an australian accent, and had a nametag labeled 'Coran' on it.

"Ah, we're looking to get up to Allura Altea's apartment, she's expecting us." Pidge said, confidently.

"Oh, yes, Allura! I knew her father well, too." The man busied himself with the phones behind the desk as he continued his story. "Alfor was a great man, very kind. He once took me golfing! We went out on the range and had a good old time. Although that was the time I accidentally sent one of my balls flying into a tree. The raccoon I knocked unconscious was not a particularly happy fella. He attacked Alfor after he'd given him mouth to mouth." Coran looked wistfully into the distance. "Although Alfor never did take me golfing again...I wonder why."

Hunk, Pidge, and Keith all made eye contact with each other. Keith's mouth was open in confusion. Lance didn't bother looking confused, he just cracked up immediately.

"I like this guy." He said in between his laughter.

Coran pulled the phone up to his face with a smile. "Ah, Allura! I have a few guests for you in the lobby, shall I send them up?" He paused waiting for her answer. "Hmm, yes...yes I'll do that...oh, that reminds me, Romelle was looking for you earlier, she said something about needing to get a headcount of how many people were coming to her fundraiser. I took the time to tell her about that one time Alfor had a fundraiser that was interrupted when a herd of Alpacas came storming through the door. Do you remember? You were about ten at the time...of course, I did realize after that it was me who'd accidentally opened the Alpaca gate. But it was a bit of an odd plan to host a fundraiser in a barn, and they did end up with a lot of donations for the Fair Trade Group, more than they were expecting. So of course it worked out in the end."

They could hear Allura's laughter on the other end of the phone.

"I'll just go ahead and let your friends up then. Will you be needing anything else?"

Coran hung up the phone. He plucked the master keycard from the desk and ushered them to the elevator. "Allura's floor is 18, apartment 3. You'll want to be careful when you get up there. The woman who lives in apartment 2 has a wicked cat named Kova who likes to run away. Doesn't seem like much but she once ate half of my mustache while I was sleeping. Of course the cat's not very nice either." He winked at them before selecting the floor and the elevator doors slid closed.

Hunk snorted with amusement. Pidge was crying from trying to hold back her laughter. Keith just chuckled.

Lance was doubled over in mirth. He had no shame about how much he needed to wheeze for breath since he knew Keith was the only one who could see him. "That man is my new favorite person on all of Earth."

They'd all managed to calm down a bit by the time the elevator slid up to the 18th floor. There were 4 apartments on this level. They went to the one labeled 3 and knocked.

A hissing sound around the corner surprised them and made them all jump. It must have been the cat Coran had warned about, standing on top of a vase in the hallway and hissing at them. Kova was looking directly at Lance. All of them exchanged glances.

"I never really realized cats could see ghosts before." Keith said. "Lance, do you remember when you were here before if the cat noticed you?"

"Hmm…" Lance furrowed his brow in thought. "I don't think so, although I don't remember being on this floor at all."

"Weird."

They all spun back around as Allura popped her door open. "What a pleasant surprise! Since when do you all visit me?"

"Oh, wow, she's pretty." Lance said, carefully walking past her so as not to accidentally brush against her.

Keith looked at him with his eyebrow raised, before looking back at Allura. "We need some help with something. Can we come in?"

Allura opened the door wider and let them tromp through the entry. Hunk handed her the to go box as he went past. "We got you breakfast so as not to intrude too much. I'm Hunk by the way."

"Allura." She said, shaking his hand before opening the box. "Oh pancakes! Good! Let me get you all some tea. Make yourselves at home." She left them all for the kitchen.

Allura's apartment was quite expansive. The entry they were standing in was large and open to the rest of the rooms in the place. They could see through a hallway the dining room, which clearly lead to the kitchen. On the other side was some sort of living room with a piano and a few doors, probably leading to bedrooms.

Keith took that as an opportunity to motion to Lance. He walked over by the piano before he hissed. "You do remember that you've met Allura before, don't you?"

Lance frowned, a bit, thinking. "No I haven't. I'm pretty sure I would remember her."

"Lance, you did meet her. You said almost the same thing, that she's pretty, and then you told me that…" Keith trailed off for a second, turning pink at the memory before he continued. "That I shouldn't worry because I'm pretty too."

Lance's frown deepened. "That can't be right…" He paused, before looking up in Keith's eyes in surprise. "Not that you're not-no-just that-I would definitely remember."

"Lance…"

He looked away again, biting his lip. "Keith...do you know if...if it's normal for ghosts to forget things that happen to them when they're ghosts?"

"I don't know. I've never been close enough with a ghost to ask."

Lance was quiet. "I know that I'm forgetting stuff from when I was alive...but...but if I forget stuff from now too...what if-"

He didn't finish his thought, and Keith didn't really want him to either. Keith shook his head slightly, not sure what else to do, knowing that nothing that he said would make Lance feel better.

He walked with Lance over to the couch where Pidge and Hunk had decided to make themselves comfortable.

"Keith, what's going on?" Pidge whispered.

"It's-Lance, uh-"

Allura burst back into the room holding a tray with cups on it. She sat it down in front of everyone before curling up into an armchair next to them. 'Alright, now we have tea. What's happening?"

Keith allowed himself to stay quiet while Pidge told Allura a few details of the less supernatural details of why they were there. Keith watched Lance carefully while they were talking. Lance's face was still in a frown, but he seemed to be getting more distressed as the moments passed. He looked up to stare at Allura, so focused that it almost looked like he was trying to make her head explode. Keith reached out for his hand.

As soon as they touched they both jumped. Lance pulled his hand away in surprise. Keith finally realized what he had just done making his cheeks flushed red. They looked away from each other.

Keith felt his throat tighten and his stomach twist. It wasn't just embarrassment that was making him uncomfortable. When Keith had touched Lance it had given him a shiver instead of the comforting touch of the last time. Keith rubbed his fingertips together in a fist. There had been something else to that touch though. When they'd connected, Keith had gotten the slightest feeling of an evil energy, like decay.

Keith tried to shake it off. He looked back up at Lance, who was determinedly looking anywhere but at Keith. He looked frustrated, slightly angry, like he had a distaste in his mouth. Keith wasn't sure what that was about.

Watching Lance drift away from him made Keith's chest hurt. He didn't like the idea of his friend hurting and not being able to do anything about it. Once more Keith reached out for Lance's hand again with assurance. This time when they touched Lance jerked, but did not pull away.

The sensation of decay was still there, behind all the coldness. Keith didn't like it. His senses were on fire, telling him to pull away, but he refused to listen. He just held onto his friend and pretended to pay attention to the conversation between Pidge and Allura.

He felt nauseous for a moment. The burning cold sensation in his hand actually helped with that a bit. Keith took some deep breaths, focusing with all of his energy on Lance. After a moment the decaying sensation started to fade, and a moment after that his hand started to feel warm again.

Keith looked back over at Lance. He still wasn't looking at him, but the creases in Lance's forehead had relaxed. He no longer looked angry or frustrated, more sad than anything else.

Keith left his hand where it was, and actually tried focusing on the conversation he was supposed to be listening to.

"I can take you down to the garage, but each of the spaces is private and we'll need the master key to access Lotor's." Allura said, nodding at Pidge.

"I can get the key." Keith said suddenly. "It's the one Coran has, right?"

"Yes, but how will you get it?"

"I just need...um...a box."

* * *

It had taken Keith a while to get ready. He motioned for Lance to follow him as subtly as he could so that Allura wouldn't notice.

"Just meet us down in the garage." He told the others.

"Us?" Allura asked.

Keith silently cursed himself. "I meant me. You three go down to the garage. I'll meet you there."

Keith held the box carefully, making sure it stayed closed. It was harder to do than he thought it would be. He hoped into the elevator and pressed the lobby button firmly.

"So what are we doing exactly?" Lance asked, eyeing the box, once the elevator doors had shut.

"Well, the way I see it, if I can distract Coran enough he'll run away from the desk, and then I can grab his key."

"What if the key's not on the desk?"

Keith looked at Lance very deliberately. "That's what you're here for."

Lance raised his eyebrows at him. "You want me to grab the key? Keith I can't even knock over a potted plant on the corner of a table unless I'm mad."

"Lance I've seen you break a mirror in half, you've got this. You just need...practice or something. Besides, if we're lucky you won't even have to do anything."

Lance huffed in response. "Keith, I don't know if you've noticed this, but I'm dead. That's not exactly the domain of people who are lucky."

Keith snorted. He almost dropped the box and he grabbed onto it tighter. The led lights on the elevator indicated they were passing by the 4th floor. "You don't seem like you were very unlucky. You had a lot of friends and support and stuff."

Lance kicked at the carpet with his foot, it didn't move. "Yeah, well tell me one thing I've been lucky in since I've been dead."

"Well…" Keith trailed off. His face turned pink again. He didn't want to say what he was thinking out loud. You met me… So instead he looked at Lance and said. "Fine then, I'm the lucky one." Before he promptly looked away.

The elevator dinged before Lance could say anything back. Keith snuck out, trying to look casual and making sure Coran wasn't looking at him. He ducked behind a fake tree before pointing the box in Coran's direction and letting go of the lid.

Like a rocket Kova took off for Coran. She was hissing and spitting so ferociously she looked like she had rabies. Coran let out a high pitched scream when he saw her coming right at him. He jumped away from the desk and ran down the hall yelling. "You're not getting away with the other half of my mustache this time, I don't care what you or your owner wants to eat!"

Keith ran to the desk and started shuffling through everything. He'd seen where Coran had grabbed the key earlier, but it wasn't there. Keith rifled through a few of the drawers before cursing.

"He must have stuck it in one of his pockets."

"Told you I wasn't lucky." Lance said, mildly irritated.

"Please, Lance, I really need your help on this."

"I'd love to help you, but the thing is that I can't just pull out ghost powers on a whim."

Keith frowned. He knew that he was asking a lot of Lance, and that it probably wasn't a good idea to try to get him to use his poltergeist powers, but Keith couldn't think of any other way. "We're just going to have to get you mad then?"

"You want to get me angry? What am I, the Hulk?"

Keith looked at Lance with a blank expression.

"Oh jeez, you don't know who the Hulk is do you?"

"Is it important?"

"He's only like one of the biggest superheroes that exist!"

"Like batman?" Keith frowned.

The look of exasperation on Lance's face was priceless. "Not even in the same universe. Not even kind of similar when it comes to superheroes."

"Okay, so Batman's not a superhero?"

Lance's hands grasped in fists. "Well you're definitely succeeding at making me frustrated."

"I don't know what I'm saying wrong!"

Lance covered his face in one of his hands. His voice came out in high pitched laughter. "Just...just don't worry about it. We can work on this later. You're just embarrassing yourself."

"Okay...so let's just focus on getting the key then."

"Yep, alright." Lance preceeded to try to knock one of the papers of the front desk. It barely shifted.

Keith frowned.

"So obviously this isn't going to work, and I honestly don't think I can deal with your complete lack of superhero knowledge and us actually come out of this as friends. So what are we gonna do?"

"Okay…" Keith was thinking. The only way he knew for sure to get Lance's powers to work was to make him emotional. Anger or sadness would probably be the easiest to access. "Think about when you first died."

"The car accident?"

"Yeah, what happened? How you were feeling? Maybe when you realized you were dead and Lotor was completely okay?"

Lance grew silent for a moment, thoughtful before he started to speak.

* * *

Hunk's cake was tucked carefully in Lance's passenger seat. He'd even had the foresight to buckle it in so that it didn't go sliding if he stopped too hard.

Lance had bought it from his favorite bakery, and he knew that everyone at the party would love it as he slid his car out of the parking lot. He tried to focus on that. Inside, around other people, in a place that smelled like warm cinnamon on a cold evening in January, it hadn't been hard to keep himself together. But alone, in a car, with nothing but a cake to keep him company it was. Now it was.

He tried to ignore the water streaking silently down his face. He lifted a hand to wipe it off and caught the image of his reflection in the rearview mirror.

No. This wouldn't do. This wouldn't do at all.

He was not gonna show up to a party looking like a trainwreck. He didn't really want to hide it from Hunk, he never hid anything from him. Hunk was the person who helped him through anything, but today was Hunk's birthday. It's one thing to have his best friend console him through even his darkest times, and a completely different thing to make his birthday, the one day of the year that should be completely and totally his, about Lance. He was not going to do that.

That was when he'd stopped the car. He pulled onto an empty side street near the old part of town. It was at the corner of a soccer field that he could see dropped down 30 feet below. He then texted Hunk that he would be late.

Lance allowed a few tears to pool and drip down his face. When they had started to cease he splashed his cheeks with water and leaned his head back in his seat.

Think of anything else, he commanded himself. He thought of Hunk and the party and playing video games. He would have a great time, he loved Hunk's family and they loved him. He couldn't wait to play Dance Dance Revolution with one of his brothers. He was looking forward to impressing Hunk's grandma with one of the shooting games. He always managed to impress little old ladies with his aim.

Oh no, Lance thought. He finally remembered that Hunk had decided that tonight was the perfect night for a blind date. The always supportive Hunk was playing matchmaker with one of his friend's friends.

What was her name again? Lance wondered, wracking his brains. Oh yeah, Pidge. Pidge was bringing someone for Lance to check out.

Lance sighed, glad for Hunk's support, but also not really feeling up to a date tonight. "Hopefully he's at least cute." Lance muttered, looking back at himself in the mirror.

"More importantly, hopefully I look cute by the time I get there." Lance pulled at his cheeks in horror. His eyes were still puffy and red. Lance checked his phone. Hunk had replied to him reminding him not to forget the cake. He ignored the message, glancing at the cake in his passenger seat. Already done.

Lance checked the time. It would still be pretty reasonable if he waited ten more minutes. He could rest his eyes and hopefully they'd recover a bit. Setting the alarm he unbuckled his seat belt and leaned back a bit, trying to relax.

He wasn't sure how long he was sitting there before the other car came careening around the bend. Lance didn't even hear it coming until it was too late. It crashed hard into the driver's side of his vehicle crushing the metal around Lance. The force sent his head cracking into the window and the car rolling over the side of the road and rolling down onto the soccer field below.

Lance heard a snap as he threw his arm out to brace himself on the ceiling. His head was dizzy, fuzzy and he couldn't feel much as he was thrown once more against the window, this time shattering it. His neck snapped back again.

And then there wasn't anything.

Lance was standing, outside of the car, watching as it rolled over one more time before it finally came to a stop.

He felt strange...almost calm.

He looked down at himself, not sure how he got there. He lifted a hand, realizing that he could see through it. That was when the panic started to set in.

"What?! What-what-wha-what?"

He ran to the car, looking through the window. The sight inside made him nauseous. He wanted to throw up. He scrambled away from the car, falling on all fours, gagging.

Nothing came. Lance dry-heaved. Nothing. He heaved again. He was breathing hard. He felt lost. What was happening? What was he supposed to do?

A sound from the road above him made him look up.

Under a lamp light he could see the silhouette of a guy standing around, looking in horror at his car. "Fuck!" he yelled.

The man swayed as he walked. He had something in his hand. A bottle. It was clear with some liquid inside of it. He took a swig, stumbling around to the other side of his car to see the rest of the damage. "Fuck!" he yelled again.

Lance watched, open mouthed, as the man stepped away from the car, stumbled, fell, and then threw up in the bushes. He wiped at his face, stumbling back around to the drivers side.

"Bastard." Lance muttered under his breath. He hadn't even looked at the car he had just hit. He didn't even care. He just got in his car, intending to drive away.

Lance wasn't gonna let him. He was mad now. He felt himself float somehow up, back to the street.

He waved at the man through his windshield, yelling. The guy didn't even notice him. Lance threw his hand down on the car, intending to keep the man from driving away, but Lance reeled back instead when his hand went through the metal.

Lance tested it again. Touching the car, only to realize he couldn't.

The man started to back up.

"Oh no you don't!" Lance tried to grab for the car again, but found nothing.

The man sped away, swerving on the road. Lance found himself floating after him, flying past the houses on the street like it was nothing. No effort.

He moved, following Lotor until his car stopped. They were in some sort of private car park. Lotor stumbled out, throwing up again on the pavement, before making his way to an elevator.

Lance followed. He tried to scream at the guy. Tried to push him. He even tried to press all of the elevator buttons just to make his life that much more difficult. Nothing happened.

In the penthouse Lance tried to push against potted plants and mugs of coffee. His hand only slid through any object he touched.

Lotor passed out on his bed, falling asleep immediately. Lance screamed to wake him. He tried rattling the curtains in the room. Tried anything. Everything.

Nothing worked.

* * *

Keith watched as Lance became steadily more upset as he described what happened. Keith's mouth dropped open in horror. The idea of watching your own death was awful. It was even worse without anyone around who would even care.

"Lance…" Keith said, unsure of what to say. Keith reached out to him, but Lance pulled away before they could touch.

He wasn't looking at him.

"Lance-"

"No." Lance's voice was gruff, deep. There was a twinge of pain in his voice.

Keith didn't speak again.

"I'll go." Lance said, disappearing down the hall the way they'd seen Coran go.

Keith sighed, walking toward the elevator. He wondered if Lance was going to be okay. Keith hated reminding him of bad memories, and suddenly worried what might happen if he couldn't calm Lance down afterward.

As long as nothing else happened to upset Lance, they should be okay.

A minute later Keith watched as Lance came floating back through the lobby, key in hand. He held out his hand to Keith, not speaking to him.

Keith took the keycard and preceded to unlock the elevator. He swallowed, nervously. "Thanks, Lance. Did you have any trouble?"

"No."

An uncomfortable silence fell between them. Lance was in a dark cloud of emotions. Keith didn't know what to say, he'd never been much of a talker or good at dealing with and managing his own emotions let alone a ghosts. He allowed silence to fill the air until they could step into the elevator.

"Lance, I didn't want to bring up bad memories for you."

"It's fine."

"Maybe...we can think of better memories?" Keith said as he punched the button for the garage.

Lance looked at Keith with an eyebrow raised. "Like what?"

"Like...I don't know...like the time you helped me beat Pidge at Super Smash."

Lance smiled weakly. "Yeah, that was fun. You were so bad."

"Not for long. We made a great team." Keith was trying his best to be happy and upbeat and it was wearing on him quickly. It just wasn't a part of his nature, but he'd force himself to smile and reminisce on good times if it was for Lance's sake.

Lance was getting more into it. The dark cloud was starting to dissipate. "I'll help you kick Pidge's ass any time."

"I'll take you up on that."

Lance smiled again, this time there was a warmth behind it. He didn't say anything else though, but Keith didn't want to stop talking in case Lance started sliding back into that darkness again.

"When was the last time you got to play?"

"Hmmm...it was me and Hunk. Just before his birthday. I won and then I let him beat me a couple times, you know, for morale."

"I feel like you might not have actually let him win. He probably just beat you outright."

Lance scoffed. "As though I would lie about one of my favorite games."

Keith laughed. "What other happy memories do you have?"

Lance thought for a moment before he frowned. He closed his eyes in concentration, knitting his eyebrows together.

"Lance?" When he didn't answer Keith tried again. "Lance what's wrong?"

"It's...it's like there's a cloud. Like I know I have a lot of happy memories. I was a really happy person in life. I can remember hanging out with Hunk at Sal's or-or going camping with my family, but it's like there's a fog covering them. The details are gone."

Just like that the dark cloud was back. Keith could feel angry, frustrated energy flowing from him. Keith hadn't realized just how bad it had gotten for Lance, he was struggling so much. They had to be careful.

"Lance? Don't panic, alright."

The elevator shuddered in response. Lance didn't say anything, he was too focused trying to figure out what he'd forgotten.

"Seriously, Lance, it doesn't matter, just focus on what you do remember."

"It doesn't matter?" Lance asked bitterly.

That time the elevator dropped a few feet in response.

"Lance!?" Any sort of calm was gone from Keith's voice. He grabbed at Lance's arm, hoping his own energy could help calm him again like he had done before, it felt like he was trying to grab at gelatin except for the searing freezing sensation.

Lance's eyes opened in surprise. He looked at Keith with a shocked expression.

"Calm down!" Keith yelled.

The elevator dropped again in response. This time Lance noticed it. "I...I did...that?"

"Yes, so please try to calm down for a moment." This time Keith leveled his voice, trying to be as calm as possible as well. He would suck as a ghost.

Lance didn't say anything, he just kept looking at Keith with the same expression on his face.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Relief flooded through Keith's body as he stepped out, letting go of Lance and allowing warmth to come back to his hand.

The others were waiting for them outside of a door. Keith waved at them, holding up the keycard. Pidge shot him a thumbs up.

Keith looked back next to him at where he expected Lance to be, but he wasn't there. Keith looked around, turning, just in time to see Lance still in the elevator.

"Lance?" Keith asked quietly.

Lance just shook his head as the doors closed between them.

Keith wasn't sure about what just happened. Maybe Lance felt like it would be too much for him to look at Lotor's car again, or so Keith tried to tell himself. Something about the explanation felt off, and a sinking feeling started in Keith's chest.

He shook it off. He had a job to do first. He turned back to the others and said, "Let's do this."

Hearing Lance describe the accident had been one thing, seeing it was a completely different ballgame. When they stepped into Lotor's private garage each one of them gasped.

Lotor had three cars, but it was immediately obvious which one they were looking for. Two pristine, expensive cars, sat looking nearly untouched. The third was smashed almost to pieces. The entire front end had compacted, leaving just barely enough space for a functioning engine. Half of the bumper was hanging onto the ground. The windshield was completely cracked. The destruction extended beyond the front of it on to the passenger side, where the car seemed to be almost bent. Fluid had leaked out of multiple places leaving a long since dried stain on the concrete.

Looking at it Keith was amazed that it had been able to make it back to Lotor's garage. Driving that thing would have been near impossible, an almost certain death sentence.

Lotor had been lucky that he hadn't killed himself. No, he just kills other people. The voice in Keith's head was furious.

Keith grimaced in his rage. He looked at the others who all shared similar faces of anger and disgust. "Let's get our evidence and go."

They nodded, moving into action. Pidge grabbed her camera and Keith directed her on what needed to get pictures taken of. Hunk busied himself with recording serial numbers and collecting a bit of the chipped paint into a bag.

Keith knew they wouldn't need to gather all of the evidence, they only needed enough so that the police would issue a warrant. The police could do the rest of the investigations.

By the time they were leaving each one of them was feeling sick. Pidge had crossed her arms tightly across herself and Hunk had turned completely green. Allura's jaw was clenched and looked like she was in pain.

"Let's go." Keith said. He tried to look like it wasn't effecting him, but he could tell the expression on his face was anything but neutral. The other's nodded.

When the elevator opened Keith half expected Lance to be there, but he wasn't. It made him even more uncomfortable that he already was. Where was he?

They were silent as the elevator slid back up to the lobby. Keith's heart sank even further when the doors opened and he didn't see Lance there either.

Allura hugged each of them and said a somber goodbye as they stepped out. Keith wasn't really paying attention. He was too lost in thoughts.

"What's wrong?" Pidge asked after the doors closed on Allura.

"Lance isn't here anymore."

Hunk balked. "What do you mean? Did he move on? Was this his unfinished-"

"No, I mean he's literally not around us anymore. He left. He went somewhere."

Pidge frowned. "Didn't he disappear on you for a couple days before? Maybe he's just upset."

Keith shook his head, scowling. "No, this is different. He didn't disappear. He went somewhere."

"Well it's not like there's much he can do. He's not a poltergeist, right? So he's probably just-"

"You two wait outside! Go take the evidence to the police, I'll be there soon." Keith said, sudden realization coming over him.

"Where-"

Keith ran back to the elevator, not bothering to answer. He was thankful he still had Coran's keycard to get him inside, otherwise there was no way he'd be able to find Lance again.

He punched the button several times, wishing the elevator would move faster, impatience getting the better of him. When the doors finally slid open again his mouth dropped open in shock.

Lotor's penthouse was incredible. There was no point for even a door to his place, you just stepped off the elevator straight into a paradise. The space was open, with few walls separating it into different rooms. Windows as large as Keith's own apartment flooded the area with light. Through one he could see a private pool.

A comfortable lounge area greeted Keith upon entry. It had a decorated mahogany pool table as the centerpiece and a long bar along the side covered in more types of alcohol than Keith could imagine. Gaudy furniture dotted the space, and a large bed with heavy curtains was positioned next to one of the few walls.

In the middle of all of this was what Keith could only describe as a tornado.

Lance had already torn ripps in several of the armchairs. He'd broken pool sticks in half. A pile of dirt and broken pottery that Keith imagined had once held Lotor's favorite plant had been smashed against a wall. Papers flew around the space in a strong wind.

And Lance stood in the middle of it all, trying to find something, anything, else to get his hands on and destroy.

"Lance!" Keith yelled.

Lance didn't even seem to hear Keith. His response was to throw another potted plant against the wall where it shattered into pieces, leaving behind a smudge of dirt on the wall.

"Lance!" Keith tried again. "What are you doing?!"

"Isn't. It. Obvious?" Lance threw something else between each word. The pile of destruction was getting bigger with each moment.

"You don't have to do this!"

"What if I want to do this?" Lance whirled on Keith. The pressure in the room changed around him, forcing a popping sound as his ears adjusted.

"Lance, please! We need to get out of here!"

"Not until Lotor gets what he deserves!"

"Lotor deserves this! He does! He deserves so much worse! But we can get him another way!" Keith braced himself against the wind Lance was sending swirling around them.

Lance yelled, making a sound of pure frustration. "You don't get it Keith!"

"What don't I get? That you're mad? Frustrated? That you feel alone?!" The wind made Keith's eyes water, but he tried to move forward anyway. "I've been there, Lance! I've been every bit as lonely as you, before! I've had everything taken from me by some horrible monster thinking of no one but themself!"

The wind picked up speed around them. "Leave me alone!"

"No! I don't want to see you become an evil spirit!"

"Too late!" Another pot smashed against the wall. "Better run away!"

"I'm not leaving!"

"Then I'll set fire to this whole place!"

Keith recoiled like he'd been slapped. "No! You wouldn't!"

Lance lifted a box of matches in his palm as response.

"What about Allura and all the other people who live here? You wouldn't do that! I know you!"

"Not well enough!" The matches lit in Lance's palms.

"You're not evil Lance! You're not turning evil! You're just upset and hurting!" Even as he said the words Keith's eyes went wide with fear. What if he was wrong about Lance? What if it really was too late?

"Last chance to run away!" He looked at Keith expectantly.

"I'm. Not. Going. Anywhere!" Keith swallowed his fear and kept himself rooted to the spot. The watering of his eyes became real tears, streaming down his face.

Lance watched Keith for a moment. They met each other's eyes. Keith looked sad and upset but there was a fear there too. Lance's expression was wild and angry instead, but his eyes revealed a true sadness behind them.

Lance cursed. He extinguished the matches in his palm to ashes and let them fall gently out onto the ground. "Don't follow me." He said as he began to sink through the floor. "I don't want anything to do with you."

Keith watched as Lance disappeared like he'd fallen through some portal into hell. Air whooshed from Keith's lungs. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding for some time. The fear started leaving him, ungluing his feet from the floor and relaxing his shoulders. The tears were still falling on his cheeks, but he couldn't worry about that right now. He looked around at his destroyed surroundings. Lotor was gonna have a fit when he came home, that much was for sure.

Keith ran to the elevator the moment he was able. Like hell he would leave Lance alone. He needed someone there for him right now more than ever. He punched the button for the lobby impatiently. He needed to get down there fast. Otherwise he might lose track of Lance. Keith didn't want to think that he might lose track of Lance anyway. He could disappear for days on end with no trace, if Lance didn't want to be found Keith wasn't going to be the one to find him.

Finally the elevator stopped and Keith clambered out. He scanned the lobby, not seeing a sign of Lance, but Coran was back at his desk very busy moving around papers and checking through drawers.

A pang of guilt shot through Keith's chest. He wiped his face as best he could before clearing his throat. "Uhh...Coran, this is yours right? I found it by the elevator."

He offered up the stolen keycard. Coran looked surprised, but grateful. "Oh thank goodness!" He said grabbing the card out of Keith's hand. "Would have gotten in big trouble if that hadn't turned up again. This reminds me of that time I…"

"Sorry Coran, I've really got to go." Keith waved before moving toward the door as fast as he could without looking suspicious.

"Right you are! Say hello to that laughing boy for me, will you. He ran out of here before I could say goodbye, looked rather upset."

"What did you say?!" Keith whipped back toward Coran.

"That laughing boy you were with earlier. The one who kept laughing at my stories and said he liked me a lot."

Keith's eyes dilated, he couldn't process this new piece of information. He'd have to deal with that later. "Did you see where he went?"

"Hmmm...ran out of the doors and turned to run down towards the old town I think. I only watched him through the doorway though, so I could be wrong. It's been a while since I saw anyone run that fast out of here. There used to be-"

"Thanks Coran!" Keith said running out the door. "I owe you one."

Outside of the building Keith began to sprint. He begged to any deity that was listening for a sign of Lance. He ran past coffee shops and movie theaters barely scanning the insides, trying to think of every possible place Lance might be. He tried to think of if there was anywhere Lance might be running to, or anywhere he might go if he was trying to avoid Keith.

Lance had mentioned a soccer field. It might make sense for him to go back to the place he had first died if he was upset. Keith was pretty sure he knew the field Lance had mentioned, it was in the right direction, and he picked up speed towards it.

People on the street jumped out of his way and gave him weird looks as he ran past. He ignored them. There was a time to appear normal and this was not it.

As he grew closer to the field fewer people were around to stare at him. It was a warm day, so there were many people out walking their dogs and children running around. The soccer field was located in a less populated part of town though, and that meant Keith had a bit more privacy as he ran towards it.

He stopped at the curb where Lance's car had been hit. Keith looked down scanning the field, holding his knees and breathing hard. A few older children were playing soccer. He didn't want to disturb them and figured Lance wouldn't either so he scanned the groups of trees lining either side of the field until he spotted him.

There. Lance.

He was sitting watching the children playing, his hand gently ruffling the grass. It moved lightly under his fingertips.

Keith looked around for a way down onto the field. He saw some steps nearby and ran to them. His legs were heavy from the run and he almost missed a step on the way down. He grabbed the railing to catch himself and went more carefully until he was standing only a few feet away.

Lance looked up at him. His eyes were red, his face wet. "I told you not to come!"

"Lance."

"No! I don't want to see you. I don't want to be reminded that I'm losing memories and that I've been on Earth too long. I just want to be left alone!"

The last word sent a wave of force ricotcheing towards Keith, it wasn't very strong, but it caused him to lose balance and fall backwards.

Lance looked surprised, and then angry, maybe a little afraid. "See, I told you to leave me alone!"

Before Keith could move Lance was up once more running away.

Keith sighed, and huffed himself up to his feet. He would chase Lance to the ends of the earth at this point. But Lance was Keith's friend and he was worth saving. The children stopped their game and watched Keith as he ran past. Their laughter grated on Keith's nerves, but he ignored them as best he could and kept going.

Lance was gonna have to do a lot more than run if he wanted to be rid of him.

Without the constraints of the mortal world Lance was faster. Keith had to push himself to his maximum just to keep him in sight. They ran through the field onto a different road and then passed several houses.

Lance stopped for a moment to consider. He glanced back at Keith and then ran past the church at the corner.

When Keith realized where Lance was going his blood turned to ice. Keith stopped dead, stumbled forward a few more steps, and then stopped once more.

The heavy iron gate to the graveyard was open, welcoming guests. But to Keith the sight was the least welcoming of all.

Keith's fury flared up for a second. Lance really was pulling out all of the stops to try to get away. If Keith left, though, if Keith respected Lance's wishes, than Lance was as good as gone. He'd become lost and angry, every bit as awful as the spirits who had tortured Keith over the years.

Keith took a breath to steady himself and then ran through the gate. Lance looked back at Keith, surprised that he'd dared to follow. He turned again and ran further up the hill, passed hundreds of grave markers and just as many ghosts.

"Lance!" Keith yelled. His voice was a higher pitch than normal, angry, but also tinged with fear. Seeing so many ghosts made his legs feel wobbly. They noticed him as he ran passed. They could just tell he could see them. Something in the way he'd glance their way and then quickly look back at Lance. They'd been waiting for someone who could see them for a while.

Keith swallowed, throat feeling like he had a golf ball stuck there. A ghost yelled something at him. He ignored it. Another one laughed in a high pitched angry sound. That one flew into Keith's vision blocking his path. He dodged around her, still intent on following Lance.

Another ghost grabbed his arm sending a shiver down his spine. Keith wrenched it free, keeping his eyes trained on Lance. Then one pushed him, and he skidded across the grass, losing sight of where Lance went. He tried to pick himself up, but another ghost grabbed at his hair. He pushed at it, trying to free himself. A different ghost grabbed his arm, tighter than a ghost should be able to. Keith yelled in pain and kicked out at it.

He managed to free himself for a second, but before he could even pick himself up another ghost had bowled him over. Keith yelled again as his shoulder struck a tombstone hard.

Dammit! He was going to get to Lance. He was going to convince Lance that he could help him. He was going to save his friend.

The ghosts had other ideas. They pulled and pushed him, grabbing at his clothes and arms. A couple of them were stronger than the others causing slash marks to appear on Keith's skin. He did his best to hold up his arms to protect his face, and kick out at any of the ghosts that he could. It didn't seem to make much of a difference. He could feel a few trickles of blood start to run down his arms. Some of it dripped into his eye temporarily blinding him. One ghost kicked him hard in the side and he screamed again.

A new pair of hands started grabbing at him. Keith almost kicked out, but then noticed that they felt warm and humanlike. He leaned in to whoever it was, using them to help himself to his feet. He struck out at what he could, feeling his way through the ghosts. The warm person helped him, fighting them off together, until they grabbed Keith's hand running with him and leading him out of the graveyard. Keith grabbed on for dear life, letting the warmth seep into him.

Keith rubbed at his eyes trying to clear them.

"Keith?! Are you alright?!" The person asked once they had slowed.

Keith looked up at the voice, a shocked glare on his face. It was Lance. Keith wrenched himself free like he'd been electrocuted. He turned and stormed away, still rubbing his eyes.

"Keith?"

"No, no, nope. You knew I was afraid of graveyards. I told you what ghosts were like for me. I told you about the evil ghosts I've dealt with and how one killed my parents and you-you-" Keith's fury had let itself loose. He felt water welling up in his eyes both from the blood and from powerful emotions cascading from his chest.

"Keith! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to! I didn't want to hurt you like that! I didn't know that would happen. I just-I-" Lance's face had become stricken.

"You did though! You used everything you could to keep me away. I just want to help Lance! I just don't want to lose you!"

"It's too late!" Lance cried. "It's all falling away! I'm hurting people! I'm ruining everything! There's just-there's no good left in me! It's all gone with all my memories!"

Tears streamed down Lance's face. He tried to wipe them away with his arm, but there was no point, more spilled over his cheeks as soon as he had cleared the ones already there.

Keith stepped back towards Lance, grabbing him by the shoulders. He wanted to shake him. "That's not true! You're not gone yet, there's still time!"

"There isn't!" Lance didn't look him in the eyes, forcing himself to look away instead. "I have so few memories left, Keith! I'm forgetting why I'm even mad! Why I'm even here! I'm going to turn into nothing but vengeful, hateful energy that attacks people for no reason, that maims and kills and wants everyone to suffer. What if-Keith! What if I forget Hunk next? What if I forget you?"

With the last word he looked into Keith's eyes. The intensity of his stare cased Keith to drop Lance's shoulders. Keith hadn't expected it. He thought for a moment before answering, this time more quietly than before. "I won't let you."

"You won't have a choice! I'm slipping away! There's so much I didn't get to do when I was alive-and now!"

Keith pulled his hand up to Lance's cheek to prevent him from looking away. He felt water from Lance's tears stream over his thumb. When he spoke he said each word deliberately, keeping his eyes trained on Lance's. "I. Won't. Let. You. Forget. Me."

It silenced Lance. His entire body was shaking with emotion. Keith held him there until he felt Lance's tremors slow to a stop. Keith was about to lower his hand, but Lance grabbed it, holding it there. His touch was warm and solid. Neither of them dropped their eyes for a minute until Lance glanced down at Keith's lips.

He hesitated, neither one of them closing the distance, but not willing to let go of each other either.

"Keith Kogane?"

An unfamiliar voice from behind Keith made them both jump. Keith turned to look at a tall police officer, frowning at him and looking confused.

"Yes?" Keith's heart skipped a beat, he felt a warm hand grab his to help steady him.

"I'm placing you under arrest for breaking and entering and the destruction of Lotor Galra's property."

A whoosh of air left Keith's chest.

Fuck.

* * *

 **A/N:** OMG what do you mean Coran can see Lance! Whaaaaatt?!

When I was writing this chapter I realized that all older Australian men are exactly like Coran. I actually have quite a few stories about this...dealing with koalas...and eating themselves out of house and home and into contraceptives...(actually not a joke, I really do have a story about this)

Anyway I hope you liked this chapter. I am in soooo sooo much trouble. I have no idea how I'm gonna get the next one finished by tomorrow night. I only have one scene written and I'm not even close to halfway through. I was originally intending for the next one to be long and the last one to be short, sort of a epilogue kind of thing, so I might end up changing how I organize that and make each of them mid-length...

I don't know how I'm gonna do this...but I AM...I can't let this go into November or I'm gonna get behind on my NaNo stuff...

IDK cheer me on or smth...I'm going crazy and need all the support I can right now...

Thank you so much for reading! Continue to be the incredible fam that you are!


	6. Body of Evidence

"KEEEITH!"

The sound of the voice made Keith wince. He could feel the torrent of anger coming off of him in waves. He didn't want to turn around, but knew it would be worse if he didn't. Keith was suddenly thankful their were solid metal bars between them.

"Oh, he-ey...Shiro."

"What is-What the-KEITH! WHAT WERE-" Shiro was red in the face, shaking and spitting in his anger.

Keith smiled tentatively at him, ducking his head in shame.

"You! YOO-UU-" Shiro stopped for a large intake of breath.

"I know you're mad-and you have every right to be-but please just hear me out." Keith held up his hands in prayer.

"No! NO! I don't want to hear it! I should leave you to rot in this cell for a while…" Shiro trailed off, turning away from Keith.

Pidge took the opportunity to run up to him. She and Hunk had entered the room with Shiro, but had stayed pretty far back from him, not wanting to face the brunt his anger.

"Keith! What happened?" She whispered. "We lost track of you after-we waited here until we saw them bring you in."

"It was Lance…" Keith whispered back. "That-he's okay now."

Keith glanced behind him into the cell where Lance sat with his head in his hands, looking entirely ashamed of himself.

"That's good-wait what happened to your arms?"

Keith looked down at the scratches that covered him that had started to scab over. Trails of dried blood swirled down his arms all the way up to his shoulders.

"Did Lance do that to you?" Pidge asked, fear in her voice.

"No!" Keith said quickly before Lance could hear. "This was...something else. I'm fine."

Pidge nodded before hurrying away to follow Shiro who had left the room to go talk to one of the officers. Hunk grimaced at him and followed too.

And just like that he was alone with Lance again...well as alone as you could be with four other prisoners watching you. He nodded at them. They ignored him.

Keith sat back down next to Lance, letting out a huff of frustration. Lance took the opportunity to pat him on the shoulder and grab his hand again. They hadn't been alone to be able to talk since Keith got arrested. He could tell from the weariness in Lance's eyes that he blamed himself for everything that happened.

Keith didn't want to blame him though. He'd figure something out. He always did.

A half an hour passed by and Shiro was back at Keith's cell, this time flanked by an officer. Shiro patted the man on his shoulder saying. "Thanks Ulaz. I owe you one."

"Don't mention it." Ulaz said, unlocking the cell. "Kogane! You're out!"

Keith jumped to his feet and stepped carefully out of the cell. Shiro grabbed him by the shoulder and began to steer him out of the room. "You are in so much trouble. You're paying back every cent of damage-"

"Shiro, please I need to talk to you."

Shiro stiffened. "I told you that I don't want to hear it Keith. There are no excuses. You might have even cost me my job."

The breath whooshed out of Keith's lungs again. He hadn't thought about that. Lotor was Shiro's boss, if Shiro wasn't fired already it was only a matter of time. He stopped dead in the hallway. "Wait, Shiro, please! I really need to talk to you."

"We can wait until we're home."

"No." Keith stood his ground. He wasn't going to let up.

"Ulaz!" Shiro called, glaring at Keith as he said it. "Can I use a room or an office?"

"Sure, I'll see what I can get set up for you."

Shiro thanked him and pulled Keith into an empty office. Hunk and Pidge followed.

"You were a good cop Shiro, we always take care of our own." Ulaz said, closing the door behind them.

Shiro nodded at him before rounding on Keith. "Keith, do you know what Ulaz told me earlier?"

Keith shook his head, confused.

"He told me that the officer who picked you up noted that you had been distressed and talking to the air for several minutes before he got your attention."

Pidge and Hunk looked at each other, suddenly uncomfortable. Lance only frowned. Keith nodded his head slowly inviting Shiro to continue, he kept his expression as one with a statue.

"Keith, what is going on? You've had disciplinary issues in the past, but it's been years. I thought we had worked on this. Is this something else? I know that you went in and out of psychiatric hospitals for seeing things after your parents died. Does this have something to do with that? Did you start seeing things again without telling me? Keith, you can tell me these things. I can't help you unless I know. If-if I'm not doing a good enough job helping you as your brother than I need to make sure you're getting whatever help you need."

"No! Shiro, it's not that. I-"

"Keith, I don't want to have to send you someplace, but I need to do whatever's best for you. I made that promise, and I can't take care of you if you're going to be destroying other people's property. I need to know what's going on so I can help, Keith, please!"

Keith hadn't planned on telling Shiro everything. It had always been a risky gamble. But Shiro's plea got to Keith in a way only Shiro could. Shrio deserved to know the truth. Keith had kept it hidden for far too long.

"Okay. I'll tell you. But I need you to listen-really listen, and you can't interrupt until I'm finished...please..."

For the next half hour Keith detailed everything again. To his credit Shiro sat silently, patiently waiting for Keith to finish his tale. His facial expressions would change from looks of horror to sadness. On occasion he would glance and Hunk and Pidge, who would nod encouragingly at him.

When Keith got to the part about Lance, how he'd shown up, he paused.

"Pidge...you have the photos right?" He asked her.

Pidge pulled the camera out of her bag and tossed it to Shiro. He clicked through the photos silently, a frown appearing heavy on his face.

Keith continued on. "Hunk-his best friend died in a car accident...it was a hit and run, but it turned out to be Lotor who was driving the car that killed him."

Shiro asked his first question. "But how did you know?"

"It was-it was Lance, Hunk's friend. He showed up-actually he and Hunk used to live in our apartment, and Lance...still lives there…"

Shiro whipped his head up to look at Keith. "You mean-"

"Yeah. He's not a bad ghost though…" Keith added quickly. "He's nice and-and funny. The past couple weeks I've been trying to help Lance move on, but things have just been getting worse."

"So what you're telling me is that last night you weren't talking about college and were actually talking about breaking into Lotor's place?"

"Well, not his place, his garage, actually. We needed to get the evidence of a hit and run so that we could bring it to the police."

"Keith, you realize that they can't use any of these photos, right? Not if they were gotten through illegal means."

"I didn't know how else to get evidence."

"You should have come to me! I know about these things!"

"You wouldn't have believed me!"

All of a sudden Pidge had a sharp intake of breath behind them. "Wait a second...I just realized...Lance helped you beat me at Smash Brothers! Didn't he?"

Keith glared at her like she had two heads. "I mean...yeah...but now's not really the time-"

"I knew you cheated somehow…there was no way you could've beaten me by yourself..." Pidge muttered under her breath. She allowed Keith to continue without any more interruptions but she was shooting daggers at him with her eyes the entire time.

Shiro shook his head. "Okay, okay, it's pointless arguing with you after you already have these photos. We'll figure this out later. Just continue for now."

"Right, so then I made Lance upset and he ran up to Lotor's apartment and wrecked the place."

Shiro's eyebrows knitted together in irritation. "So you're trying to tell me…that you're blaming all this on a ghost? Are you kidding me? Is this all some sort of joke to you?"

Keith let out an exasperated sigh. "It's the truth!"

A crash from behind them made everyone turn. Lance had pushed the nameplate off of the desk in the corner. When he was sure everyone was looking at him he preceded to push a stack of papers off the desk as well. They fluttered to the floor, turning into a messy pile.

Shiro rubbed his face, suddenly looking tired. "You do realize no one else is going to believe that a ghost did this, right?"

"Yeah, I'm aware."

"You're gonna have to be the one to take a fall for what he did. And you're okay with that?"

"He feels really bad about it. But...I've done worse." Keith nodded, looking at Lance.

Shiro rubbed his face again. "Okay...I guess...I'll talk to the officers about Lotor and see what I can do."

Pidge and Hunk high fived behind Keith.

Shiro scowled at them. "I'm not saying it's going to work, all I can do is ask them to put the pressure on to gather evidence against him. Stop your cheering. You're all still in trouble as far as I'm concerned." He pointed at Hunk and Pidge. "You two as well for going along with this!"

Pidge and Hunk grinned uncomfortably.

"And Lance!" Shiro shot a glare toward the desk in the corner. "Don't get Keith in trouble again. He really doesn't need it."

* * *

Back at Keith's apartment Hunk and Pidge grilled him with questions about what happened after they had left. He answered them honestly until he started describing the chase. At that point he turned pink and refused to look at them or at Lance.

"It was-we talked, we worked it out." Keith said, awkwardly.

Pidge continued to look concerned though. "But Lance is still forgetting things?"

"He says all his memories feel foggy. So even if he remembers something, it's never quite all there."

"And he's becoming more of a poltergeist, right?"

"Well...yeah."

Pidge and Hunk frowned at each other.

It was Hunk who broke the silence. "That just means that we've got to help him pass on, right? The plan's still the same. We've got to do it before he loses everything."

"Yeah, but he's still not going to tell me anything. He said he doesn't completely remember anyway." Keith huffed wanting them to drop it. He was surprised by his own reaction. He did want Lance to pass on...right?

Keith felt a hand grasp him gently on the shoulder. "Keith…"

Keith turned his head to look at Lance. He didn't respond.

Pidge frowned again. "So what do we do? We can't exactly leave him like this."

Hunk nodded at her. "Yeah, we need some sort of guide. Like one of your books or something."

It was Keith's turn to frown. "If this exact situation was in any of those books, believe me I would know."

"Well what about any friends who can see ghosts?"

"It's not exactly like we travel in packs, Hunk."

"It was just a thought."

"Wha-wait! Hunk! You're a genius!" Keith smacked himself on the forehead. "Coran! He could see Lance!"

Pidge raised an eyebrow. "Wait, that funny guy with the mustache?"

"Yeah, he mentioned it to me when I was running out of the apartment building. I didn't have time right then to think about it since I was chasing down Lance. But he definitely mentioned seeing him, didn't even seem to realize he was a ghost."

Pidge and Hunk dropped their mouths open.

Keith was already shrugging his shoulders through his jacket as he stood. "Let's go."

It only took a short time to walk back to Allura's apartment building. The doorman opened the door quietly ushering them inside.

As soon as Coran saw Keith he jumped back from the desk. "You're not tricking me this time! I'm not gonna let you get my key!"

"No, Coran, calm down! I'm not trying to get your key."

He looked like a man who had too much coffee in the last 24 hours. Coran nearly vaulted over the desk to get away from Keith, but Hunk stood up, blocking one of the exits and Pidge and Lance blocked the other.

"This reminds me of that time I got cornered by a group of shoppers at a regional vacuum sale after I got the last Miele C2 Electro+. They tried to pry it out of my hands after mauling me, but I held fast. Little did they know that I was the winner of the city-wide monkey bar competition. Those twelve year olds didn't know what hit them, and those little old ladies weren't gonna get that vacuum out of my vice-like monkey-bar trained grip."

"Whhhaat?" Lance lost control of himself as he put his hands on his knees and started cackling.

"Ahahaha! A weak spot!" Coran ran around Pidge, intending to push Lance out of the way, but jumped back in surprise instead when his hands went right through. "Well that's not something that you see everyday!"

"Coran! Wait!" Keith yelled as he scrambled up on the desk instead. "I just want to talk-that's actually what I want to talk to you about!"

"Too late. For the homeland!" He jumped down off of the desk tackling Keith.

Keith scrambled to grab hold of him before he could run off. They were a mess of limbs until another voice spoke.

"Coran? Keith? What are you doing?" Allura looked at them quizzically, tilting her head and raising her eyebrows.

"Ah! Miss Allura!" Coran scrambled off Keith, coming to attention. "I was just throwing these troublemakers out. They may be your friends, but they remind me of the time when I was searching for a series of antique plates featuring corgis in summer dresses. I was at-"

"Yes, yes, Coran. I'm sorry they've caused so many problems for you. That was entirely my fault actually. I should be the one held responsible."

"Oh no, Allura, I don't blame you at all."

"Well, you honestly should. What are you three doing here, anyway?"

"Three? I could have sworn there were four of them." Coran pointed each of them out counting four on his fingers.

Allura just frowned when he pointed at Lance. "Coran there's no one there."

Keith just sighed, realizing he was going to have to explain this entire thing again to two more people. This day is getting longer and longer...

Coran just continued on, completely unfaded. "No, he's just one of those people who has those fancy phasing powers. We had one living on the sixth floor for a while before he moved out a year ago. I remember when-"

"Wait-what?!" Keith blurted.

"I would be able to tell you if you would all stop interrupting me."

Pidge stepped in before things could devolve into madness. "Okay, you're right. We all need a place to go and talk, because this is important. Allura, can we use your apartment again? Coran, when do you get off work?"

Allura said, "yes, of course," at the same time as Coran explained his schedule.

"Hmm...well I should have another person coming in for the evening rush in about thirty minutes. I can take a break then."

"Perfect! We'll all wait here, in the lobby until they come in, and then we'll go have a nice civil conversation at Allura's."

They all nodded at each other before Coran settled back behind the desk and the rest of them settled into the fluffy armchairs set around.

Keith tugged at Pidge's arm. "Why did you emphasize 'civil?' It's not like we're gonna get into a screaming match or anything."

"Well he did tackle you."

Keith nodded at her. "Good point."

They waited for what seemed like an eternity, Allura making polite conversation with Hunk, while Pidge read a magazine with Lance looking over her shoulders. Keith didn't know what to do with himself. Coran was watching him carefully, so he decided to just flop into a chair and rest his eyes for a moment. He felt Lance move over to him and begin to gently stroke his hair out of his eyes. The gently fluttering of his hair with the warmth of Lance's hand made Keith shiver, but not from any cold this time. Keith relaxed further into the chair, dropping the tension in his shoulders.

When Coran's shift finally had a break it took another hour to explain the entire situation to him and Allura. She gasped at all the right places and Coran continued to interrupt the conversation to digress into his own equally compelling tales.

"So...your friend, Lance...is he…" Allura pointed in the corner where Lance was standing over by a lamp.

"Yep." Keith nodded.

"And he's…"

"Yep."

Coran stroked his mustache. "Well I suppose ghosts do make more sense than mutant humans with phasing abilities. I can't remember where I came up with that theory...some movie perhaps? Maybe a picture book I read as a child? No idea. Guess we'll never know."

Lance rubbed his face, pulling at his cheeks in an exasperated expression at Coran's words.

"Right…uh..." Keith said, trying to break the tension.

Allura's voice was one of concern. "What can we do to help?"

"Well, I was hoping that maybe Coran could help. He-he can see Lance and I've never met anyone else who could see ghosts so I thought he might know of a way to maybe...I don't know...keep Lance from becoming...evil...or something…"

"An interesting thought." Coran was stroking his mustache again. "I suppose I've known a number of ghosts over the years. I'd talk to them for awhile and they'd eventually leave and I'd never see them again. I suppose that bit was what you call passing on."

"But what if they can't pass on?"

"Boys…" Coran looked from Keith to Lance in turn, a sad smile playing on his lips. "I know that you've come here asking for my help, but I think I'm going to have to tell you what you already know, and I know it's not going to be what you want me to tell you." Coran paused, letting each of his words sink in. "It doesn't sound to me like there is any other option. A ghost passing on is the natural order of things. Becoming a ghost is merely a chance for us to do one last thing on Earth right before moving on to whatever's next. It sounds to me like we're meant to take that chance...and then we're meant to leave."

"But Lance-"

Coran held up a hand to stop Keith from saying anything more. "If he can't remember exactly why he's here he should go talk to the people who he thinks he's here for."

Lance gasped quietly. "My family...but-"

Once again, Coran quieted him by holding up his palm. "Go to them and Keith can be your voice to say whatever last words you need to say."

Keith and Lance looked at each other, a slight frown playing on each of their lips.

"You should all take the opportunity beforehand to say your goodbyes. Make sure nothing is left unsaid. Make sure you all say exactly what you mean to each other."

Coran looked at each of them in turn, nodding to Pidge and to Hunk, before giving Keith long meaningful look. Keith turned away. He didn't see the look Coran shot Lance.

"Coran…" Allura said, gently butting into the conversation. "I know you said you didn't know they were ghosts before, but you seem so knowledgeable about this stuff. How can you-"

"Ah...Allura...I didn't realize it then...but I did the same thing for your father."

Allura grabbed at Coran's sleeve. "What? But he-"

"He asked me to tell you how much he cared about you and make sure I watched over you. I thought it was a dream before...but now I see…"

Allura's eyes filled with tears as she hugged her friend.

Hunk carefully stepped around them, so as not to disturb their moment. He spoke quietly, his voice almost breaking. "Keith...can I-will you...will you help me say goodbye to Lance?"

Pidge grabbed his arm, rubbing soothing circles on his shoulder. "I feel like we should all do that…"

Keith nodded. He gestured for the others to follow him into the other room so as to leave Allura and Coran in their moment.

Once alone the four of them sat close together in a circle. None of them spoke for a minute, not sure where to start or just what to say.

Pidge broke the silence first. "Lance...I didn't know you very well when you were alive, but you were always funny and friendly to me. I can tell you were a great friend and I wish you were alive so that I could prove that I'm the number one reigning champ when it comes to Smash Bros-"

"We beat you though!" Keith interrupted.

"Yeah, but only by working together. If it was just Lance or you on their own I would have creamed you."

"You didn't even beat your brother. I would definitely win in a fight." Lance said.

When Keith repeated this Pidge's face turned red, before she suddenly burst out laughing.

"Yeah, okay. You got me there." She wiped away a few tears in her eyes that may have been left there by more than just mirth. When she was done, her expression was somber. "I'll miss you, Lance. I really will."

Hunk grabbed her hand to comfort her. She punched him lightly on the shoulder, but he kept hold possibly for his own courage as well. "Lance…"

Hunk fell into silence, taking a deep breath to calm himself before starting again.

"Lance...you're my best friend. You got me through so much stuff...classes, sleepless nights over crushes, family hardships. I wish you were still alive...because I'll never feel like I can repay all the incredible things you did for me."

"Hunk…" Lance said, grabbing Hunk's other hand.

Hunk jumped slightly in surprise, suddenly able to feel Lance's hand on his.

"Hunk...you were the most amazing best friend a guy could ask for. I wish I could put into words just how much you mean to me...but no matter what I say everything feels like it will fall flat...you're just that incredible as a friend."

Keith repeated the words to Hunk.

"Lance, I'm gonna miss you. I don't know what I'll do without you by my side. Things haven't-I haven't been doing well these past few months...how will I-"

"Don't say that. I get it. I don't know where I'm going, but I don't want go without you. But you-" Lance grabbed Keith's hand. "You have two amazing friends right here who will help. They're not a replacement, but they are every bit as kind and meaningful as you are to me, so I know they'll help you through."

Lance looked at Keith, who blushed slightly before speaking his words.

"You're going to be okay." The way Lance said it was like he was trying to will the words come true just by speaking them. "I'm-I'm going to be okay."

"You will." Keith said, squeezing Lance's hand, and then because it fit the moment he grabbed Pidge's other hand too.

They sat in silence like that until the window behind them grew too dark for them to see each other properly.

* * *

 **A/N:** Oh man...I was so close to not having anything for you all today. This chapter didn't quite end where I wanted it to, but it leaves a pretty good amount for the last chapter, so now I have to try and rush through that.

We're gonna make this happen kids! We've got this...also anyone else really want to know where to get some antique plates with corgi's in summer dresses? Because I'd love to know if those exist honestly.

See you all tomorrow! Happy early Halloween!


	7. Fate Worse Than Death

Hunk gave Keith the information for contacting Lance's family. By the next morning he had gotten in contact with Veronica explaining that he was a friend of Lance's and needed to talk to them. She'd agreed he could come down the next day.

Keith was grateful to Hunk and Pidge for spending the night and also for deciding that the trip to Lance's family was a more private affair. They hadn't wanted to intrude on what they knew was going to be a private moment. It was bad enough that Keith needed to go. They left early in the morning, hugging Keith goodbye.

Keith was relieved to see Hunk looked better than he had a couple days ago. He'd recovered more from this time with Lance than he had over the past few months. Telling the truth had done some good at least.

After that Lance had waited patiently while Keith got ready for the trip. Lance's family lived a couple hours from the city. It would be a long drive, definitely an all day affair, but hopefully Keith would be back before night fell. He gulped when he thought of how many days of work he'd been missing.

Keith packed his bag with clothes just in case, and then he unpacked it, and then repacked it again. On the second time he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He looked up, face to face with Shiro. He wore a frown, but his eyes crinkled in concern. "Keith, you're stalling."

So what if he was? It didn't mean anything. Not really. He was going to miss his friend and he wasn't in a rush to be rid of him. The sound of joyous laughter that filled the apartment so regularly. The gently touches as Lance reached out to him with concern. The bright blue eyes that suggested the sky on a clear mountain day or the calm waves of a beach far from the desert.

Who wouldn't miss that?

Shiro hugged him. "It will be okay."

Keith felt the water welling up in his eyes, but forced it back down. Not yet. He didn't want Lance to see.

Keith pulled away from the hug, nodding to Shiro. He grabbed his bag and headed to the living room.

"Ready?" Keith asked, looking at Lance.

"Ready." Lance nodded.

The time in the car was spent listening to music without much speaking. It wasn't that either one of them was ignoring the other, it was just that neither of them knew what to say.

At least a dozen times Keith opened his mouth to speak only to find that the words wouldn't come. His thoughts were too much of a jumbled mess. He watched as Lance would do the same, opening his mouth to say something and then closing it after a few seconds of silence.

"Keith…" He finally said.

"Yeah?"

And then once again they didn't say anything else for a long time.

"Lance, tell me about your family...you know...whatever you do remember."

Lance contemplated for a second, looking out the window at the scenery coming past before he spoke. "I have a big family. Lots of siblings. I'm closest to Veronica."

"What's she like."

"Well, she's annoying. She won't stop butting into other people's business. She's the kind of person who will nearly hold you at knifepoint to learn your secrets, but then is terrible at keeping them. Somehow she always got me to trust her with them though." Lance laughed. "It caused a problems a few times. I told her once that I had a crush on this girl and the next day the entire family knew about it as well as every single person in my grade. We were only ten then, though, but I was more careful about telling her those things from then on."

Keith joined in with Lance's laughter.

"She's kind though. She breaks secrets mostly because she wants to help. When I snuck out of the house and got stuck in the tree outside she was the one who saved me. If she hadn't told our brother I'd probably still be out there. Veronica's got a strong moral code too. She believes in what's right and what's wrong and she sticks to it, always. You couldn't ever convince her to do something she didn't want to do. It made her an awful toddler though. You should hear some of the horror stories my mom tells us about trying to get her to eat her peas."

"What was your favorite thing about her?"

"I don't know. I just liked that she was always so confident in herself and her decisions. She puts family first and her studies second, and always just knew what the right thing to do was. She never wavered and it was comforting to be around someone like that. I mean, definitely annoying too, but I wouldn't trade her for the world."

"And the rest of your family?"

"I wouldn't trade them either...well except Marco...I'd definitely trade Marco."

Keith laughed again. "No, but seriously?"

"Well, all my siblings were older than me, so we didn't always see eye to eye when growing up. I'd try to tag along to wherever they went and they'd grumble about having to bring their kid brother around. Although Rachel did use that as an opportunity to have her and her friends have someone to practice makeup a few times. Believe me, you do not want to see me in bright orange lipstick. Definitely not my color!"

The image of horribly clashing lipcolor on Lance's dark skin flashed into Keith's mind...and yet it looked sort of cute still. "I doubt you'd look bad in anything."

Lance paused for a moment, looking at Keith with a raised eyebrow.

When Keith realized what he said he immediately tried to back-pedal. "Wha-no-that's not what I-it's just that you-"

"Just admit that you think I'm cute, Keith." Lance snickered.

Red shot up from Keith's face into his hairline. "No-it's not-it's just-"

"Calm down, Red. I'm only teasing."

Keith huffed out a breath, trying to get the color to drain back out of his cheeks. He lifted his water bottle to the back of his neck for a second, using the cold to his advantage before setting it back in the cupholder and grumbling. "I'm not that red."

"Oh believe me, you are." To demonstrate Lance placed his hand right on top of Keith's and leaned toward him.

Color immediately shot into Keith's face again. All the hard work with the water bottle disappearing the instant Lance touched him. "Wha-"

"See?" Lance paused mere inches from Keith's cheek. "Red."

Keith stared determinedly forward. He could feel the gentle whisper of Lance's breath. He was not going to give Lance the satisfaction of making him look. He couldn't control his cheeks, but he would be damned if he was going to let his eyes wander.

"Don't worry though...like I said before...I think it's cute."

Keith couldn't help himself. He looked over towards Lance. First studying his chest, from this angle Keith could see just barely down his shirt and the muscles there. He looked up towards Lance's throat, swallowing the thoughts that raced in his head. Then he peered right into his big blue eyes an inch from his face.

"Lance...please…" Keith begged. "I'm trying to drive…"

"Oh sorry, I'm making you uncomfortable." He wasn't.

But Lance immediately withdrew, moving himself back into the space of the passenger seat and pulling his hand away. He looked back out of the window. Keith felt the regret wash over him.

They went back to the silence from the first half of the drive.

It took time, but Keith eventually pulled onto the dirt driveway that lead up to Lance's family's home.

"I guess we're here." Keith said.

Lance nodded at him, gulping quietly. "What if I remember what happened and suddenly get mad again?"

"I won't let that happen."

"What if I get so mad I break everything in my mom's house."

"Lance." Keith said, grabbing his wrist. "I just told you that I won't let that happen."

He let go of Lance and started walking toward the house before he could turn red again. He didn't need to be made fun of even more by Lance today.

Keith knocked, but was surprised when Veronica came around the side of the house instead. She was covered in dirt and holding a bouquet of flowers. Upon seeing him she raised her hand in greeting.

"You must be Keith." She went to shake his hand, then realizing how dirty it was dropped it. "I'd shake your hand...but...eh…"

"That's alright."

"I'm Veronica, obviously." She gestured to herself. "The rest of the family's around...but they're taking everything rather hard, so I didn't actually tell them why you were coming. I just thought we could talk more in private...and then, maybe..."

She trailed off, eyes filling slightly with tears, and then gestured for him to come inside the house instead.

They walked through the kitchen, where Veronica stuck her flowers in the sink, before they walked through a doorway and into another room. It was set up with a desk and several books. "This is my dad's office, but he hasn't used it in a while, so it's probably a good place to talk."

She sat down facing him offering the other chair to Keith. From the setup he felt like he was being interviewed. Keith's throat was suddenly dry. He didn't know what to say. Lance floated next to him and pressed a hand to Keith's shoulder in comfort.

"So…" Veronica started. "You said you wanted to come down and talk about Lance?"

"Uhhh...yeah…" Keith said examining his fingertips. "The-the day he died he was upset about something, but he never actually got a chance to tell me what it was...so I thought maybe you would know…" Keith looked up at her.

She studied him for a second. "He didn't say why he came down to visit me the day before...did he?"

"No...it was his personal business so…"

She studied him again. "I thought it might be something like that-the reason you came, I mean. I knew sooner or later I'd have to tell someone. I thought it would be Hunk...but…"

"So you know?"

"Why he was upset?" Veronica nodded her head solemnly, tears sprouting in her eyes again before she choked them back. "Yeah."

Keith nodded at her, to continue.

"It was-it was all my fault. You're going to think we're horrible people after this! Please don't get too mad."

Keith reached out to grab her hand as a way to comfort her. "I just want to know."

"I-I-Lance came down to see me because he wanted to tell me he was-he was-you know-not straight. He wanted someone in the family to know, and we were always so close that it made sense to tell me…"

An small "oh" sound came out of Keith's mouth involuntarily. He watched as Lance straightened up, suddenly lost in thought. Keith used his other hand to fish Lance's out, making sure he had someone to calm him if it came to that.

Verronica continued visibly getting more distraught. "And I just. I screwed up. I wasn't expecting it. He just wanted to find someone he could date seriously. I questioned him on and on. I asked him if he was sure. I worried that it would break the family's heart. I said-I said-I told him that it would make his own life more difficult. It was so stupid! Why did I say that? Why didn't I just tell him that I loved him?"

Keith frowned, understanding Lance's pain finally. "I don't know."

"It's worse though! We argued, but then he left. He went for a walk or something, and I was so upset I accidentally blurted it to Marco and then the rest of the family found out. By the time Lance got back everyone was arguing. Yelling! At each other, at Lance, saying all sorts of terrible things! Lance gave one last look toward me of complete betrayal and just grabbed his things and left. I couldn't even explain anything."

Big tears streamed down Veronica's face at this point, covering her cheeks in moisture.

"Marco finally got everyone calmed down enough to eat dinner together. I tried calling him but he ignored my messages. But then-the next night we got a call-from the hospital." She hiccuped. "It was too late."

Keith looked at her, could see how apologetic she was in her eyes. He glanced at Lance again. He was scowling, but Keith could feel that he was staying at least calm enough not to wreak havoc.

"We really screwed up." Veronica said quietly. "I screwed up. I can't take any of it back, Keith! I don't care who Lance loves or doesn't. I never really thought about it before. I was just surprised."

"Surprise is your excuse?" Keith kept his voice even.

Veronica gulped down air, looking at Keith like she'd just been slapped. "No! I know what I said wasn't okay. I wanted to take it all back the moment I said it. I wanted to fix everything...but now I'll never get to."

Lance pulled out of Keith's grasp. "I don't want to listen to this anymore." He moved toward the door.

Keith couldn't let him leave. He knew Lance would end up in a dark place again if he did, so he blurted. "What would you tell him if he were here?"

Veronica gasped in surprise. "I would-I would say that I love him no matter what. That I'll support him when things get hard. I would tell him that I'd help him talk to the family if he wanted...or that I'd keep his secret if he didn't want to do that yet. I don't care who he loves, Keith, I just want him to have the best life he can."

Lance stopped by the doorway, he stayed turned away. "It hurt. I thought she would be the most understanding...maybe it hurt more because of that."

"You hurt him, Veronica."

"Yes. And I'm always going to have to live with that."

They sat in silence for a moment, no one moving. Veronica broke the silence with a question.

"Can you tell me honestly Keith...what were you to Lance?"

"Uhh…" Keith didn't want the panic to show on his face. "We were just friends."

"Hmm…" She said. "Let's go. I have somewhere I want to take you."

She pulled him by the hand back through the kitchen, where she grabbed her flowers from the sink and without pausing continued through the front door and into her car.

"Get in." Veronica popped open the door for Keith.

"Where are we going?"

"I told you, I want to show you something."

Keith shrugged his shoulders at Lance, pulling himself into the passenger seat. Lance followed.

The drive took less than ten minutes, but the moment Keith saw where they were, he wanted to turn back around.

It was a small graveyard, less than half the size of a normal one, but it still made Keith freeze. It was Lance's turn to hold Keith's hand.

"I won't let anything happen, okay?" Lance soothed as Veronica climbed out of the car. "You'll be fine. Please, Keith. I think I need to see this."

Keith nodded and slowly unstuck himself. He allowed Lance to hold his hand as they walked up the small hill. Keith could see a few ghosts, but they seemed to keep their distance this time, whether because of Lance or for some other reason Keith couldn't tell. The flowers in Veronica's hands suddenly made sense.

"We all felt awful after. All of us." Veronica said. "We wanted Lance to know that loved him no matter what, so we decorated his grave."

She gestured to the graveyard. In the middle was a headstone covered with flowers. Every inch of space was taken up with flags and symbols and stuffed animals and anything else that people could bring.

"That one," Veronic pointed at a rainbow flag being held by a small stuffed bear, "was one of Marco's additions, and that," she said pointing again, "was one of Rachel's. But the entire family did this, we all worked together. We even wrote him letters."

She gestured down to a small package of letters wrapped together with twine.

"We all love him...no matter what…"

They stood in silence for a moment. Lance inspected some of the things. He gently tapped a heart shaped stone that said the word 'love' and touched the package of handwritten letters.

Keith watched him with a dropping feeling in his chest. It made Keith's eyes water, but he forced it down.

"Keith?" Veronica said, watching him. "If you weren't in love with my brother, you're definitely in love with someone."

Keith blanched, the color draining from his face this time. He wasn't sure what to say. "Uhhh…"

"Do you mind if I leave you alone for a bit? I have a feeling you're supposed to be here." She walked away without another glance backward.

"So this was it." Lance said, his tone even. "Mystery solved."

"Lance…"

"I don't need you to say anything, Keith."

They stood in silence instead. Lance sat down and pulled at the twine with the letters. He gently tugged each one out of their envelopes and read. Tears sprang into his eyes immediately. It was hard to watch.

Keith looked away, waiting until he'd finished the last of them. Lance put the letters back as carefully as he could, placing them in the exact same spot.

"Thank you, Keith...I needed this."

"Lance...are you...leaving?" The words stuck in Keith's throat, making them twice as hard to say.

"I think so." Lance straightened, stretching his back a bit.

"Lance…" Keith tried again. He had so much building up in his chest. His arms wanted to grab Lance and hold him there, force him to stay, prevent him from moving on. He wanted his last words to means something, to tell Lance everything. He desperately wanted to let it all spill out, but… "I wish you weren't dead."

Lance frowned at him, eyebrows knitting together. "Me too…" He paused before saying. "Keith?"

"What?" He said too quickly.

"I'll miss you. Thanks...for everything..."

And just like that he dissolved into nothingness.

Keith felt his chest tighten, constricting him from breathing. The pain made him double over.

He'd been such a fool. Why couldn't he have just said what he was feeling. And now, just like Veronica it was too late. The tears he'd forced down earlier came back up this time. Large torrents of water fell from his eyes onto the grass all around him.

He cried for what felt like hours, until no more tears came and he was just on the ground shaking. He cried until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He looked up to see Veronica with her own tear-streaked face. "Let's go. I'll make you some tea."

* * *

The drive back was quieter than Keith could stand. He blasted the music in his car, and yet it felt like no sound was even playing. He focused as best he could on the road in front of him, but found himself distracted often.

When Keith arrived back at his apartment he was relieved to find that Shiro was gone. It was all the better to be able to curl up on his bed without anyone else disturbing him. He wouldn't have to explain the puffy eyes away or even worse have to deal with the knowing looks of pity. He could just sleep and forget.

As he threw open the door to his room intending to throw himself on his bed he found that he couldn't. Someone was already sitting there. A ghost with tan skin and blue eyes, waiting for him.

"Lance?"

"The very same...did I cause that?" Lance gestured towards Keith crumpled appearance and streaming eyes, looking apologetic.

"No...this was…" Keith trailed off unable to think of a single excuse.

Lance nodded somberly before he spoke again. "I couldn't cross over."

A fire sprang into Keith's heart...hope maybe? "But I thought-"

"It didn't work. I was about to disappear, but then…"

"What?"

"I realized I have unfinished business with you too."

The fire in Keith's heart grew. "What do you mean?"

"You mean you haven't realized it yet?" Lance asked.

Keith shook his head, not knowing exactly what Lance was on about.

"The night of Hunk's party...I was supposed to meet you."

The realization struck Keith like a blow. It sent all of his carefully constructed walls falling down. Of course he had known that. It was completely obvious. Pidge had asked him to come, telling him that he'd have a good time and might even get lucky. Keith wasn't a party person. It had never been his scene, yet at the promise of a cute boy he'd given in easily. He'd forced himself to believe that the only reason he'd been there was because Pidge would have complained on and on until she'd gotten her way. He had to believe that, because if was truthful to himself that would mean...that would mean…well Keith didn't know exactly what it would mean, but he couldn't hide it anymore. His own lies were weak. He was fighting a losing battle against Lance's soft gaze. The way he sometimes shifted his clothes so that just a hint of skin was showing sent Keith in a spiral. The gentle smiles that Lance reserved just for him. The jokes he knew only Keith could hear.

He had it bad.

And it was too late.

Keith couldn't move now. He couldn't touch or hold Lance no matter how badly he wanted to. Lance wasn't meant for this world. Every opportunity Lance and Keith would have had together was stripped away, cruelly taken by fate acting just a moment too slow.

"Well...I guess it's time to leave again...sorry about that."

If Keith opened his mouth now he would ask Lance to stay. He wasn't strong enough to deny it now that the walls were gone. He stubbornly kept his mouth closed.

"I wish we could have met while I was alive...I think I really would have liked you." Lance allowed himself to float gently off the bed.

Before Keith could stop himself he blurted. "Lance...your sister was right, I'm in love with someone."

"Who?"

Keith looked at Lance, frowning. Lance already knew the answer, he had to, just like he'd already known that they were supposed to meet the night that he'd died. Keith looked away, too ashamed to say it.

"Keith...Keith…" The words came out strained, like each one was being carved directly from Lance's skin.

"Please…" Keith wasn't sure exactly what he was asking for when the tears started to fall. For Lance to stop asking stupid questions? For Lance to spare Keith the embarrassment of being in love with a spirit? For Lance to hold him? For Lance to leave? For Lance to stay?

"Keith…" Lance crossed the room to him, grabbing at his shoulders.

"Please...I can't-I can't do it again. I could only let you leave because I thought you didn't know-because I refused to let myself know."

"That's why I had to come back. I-"

"Lance, I'm not strong enough!" The tears came outpouring. There was no stopping them now. There were more than there had been in the entire car ride home.

Lance grabbed at Keith's shoulders furiously, trying to hold him. Keith fought him off, refused to let Lance comfort him after this.

"Lance!" Keith struggled out of his grip, turning away from him.

"Keith, look at me."

"Don't disappear again." The words came out hoarse.

"I-I can't...Keith-"

"Lance, you can't disappear again. I know you'll lose your memories. I know you'll go crazy. But you can't disappear." Keith spun around to look back at Lance, tears leaving streaks on both their faces. "I'm just that selfish."

This time Keith let Lance hold him. The long arms surrounded Keith. "No...I'm that selfish. I came back even though I knew it would hurt. I shouldn't have...I-I don't want to disappear. I don't want to move on. You can have my memories-my sanity-whatever you want!"

They crumpled to the floor, no longer able to support each other's weight. Tears streamed down both their faces. Neither of them moved beyond trying to wrap themselves around each other tighter than they were already.

Finally the tears began to find their end. Keith bit his lip, tasting salt there. He looked into Lance's eyes, knowing what he was about to say.

But Lance said it first.

"I'm dead Keith."

"I know."

Keith didn't mean the words to be a confirmation that Lance was dead, but instead that he understood why Lance was saying what he was saying, and that he'd accept it.

"You're alive." Lance said.

"I know."

"Coran was right."

"He was."

"I wish I was alive more than anything."

Keith smiled at him sadly, grabbing hold of his hand and helping them both to their feet.

Lance allowed Keith to pull him up, continuing. "We could go on cute dates, and I could show off my boyfriend to Hunk and to my friends at college t-to my family."

"You would teach me how to play Smash Brothers."

"And you would tell me all about the supernatural and we could go ghost hunting together."

"I could take you on the back of my motorcycle-"

"You have a motorcycle?"

Keith nodded. "And we could grab a box of pancakes from Sal's and then eat them under the stars somewhere far in the desert."

"We could fall in love slowly-instead of whatever the hell this crap is." Lance gestured to themselves.

Keith laughed, but it turned into a sob. "We could have been happy."

"Keith…" Lance closed the gap between them, holding Keith tightly. "I need to say-"

"You don't have to-"

"Yeah, I do." Lance took a deep breath looking deep into Keith's eyes. "If I were alive I could tell you that I love you."

"I don't need you to be alive for that, Lance." Keith leaned in, speaking quietly. "I love you now."

Lance looked away, chewing on his lip. He spoke in a near whisper, forcing Keith to get even closer just to catch the words. "If I were alive I could kissed you in that desert. I would have let you fall asleep in my arms and I would have kissed you then too."

"Yeah?" Keith whispered.

"Believe me, Keith. This is the most difficult thing I'll never do."

Lance turned back to look at Keith, cupping his hand behind Keith's head and leaned in to press softly against Keith's lips.

Keith held him there, refusing to pull away, or even breath. His hands wandered up to Lance's hair, wanting to pull him even closer than they were already. Lance pulled Keith tightly against himself, arms wrapping around Keith like a lifeline.

They both gasped for air at the same time, instantly regretting the loss of contact, but it was too late. Lance's skin began to glow. He pulled Keith toward him one more time, humming in Keith's ear, before their lips were on each other once more for less than a moment.

The words Lance said almost got lost in the wind. Keith held on to them as tightly as he could, the only thing he was allowed to hold on to. He watched as Lance's outline turned brighter and brighter, until the light filled the room and Keith had to look away. When he looked back Lance was gone, and Keith opened himself up, allowing himself to pull the words he was holding on his heart to look at them one last time.

I. Love. You.

* * *

~*~*~*~*~ Ante Mortem ~*~*~*~*~

Lance's arrival was met with a loud cheer. It didn't hurt that he had yelled into the crowd, "I've brought the cake!"

Hunk ran over to him, a large bear hug in order for his best friend. "About time you made it! What took you? Flirting with some bakery cutie?"

"Hunk!" Lance made a fake gasp. "I would never!"

"Sure…"

"I can't believe my very best friend in the world would even dare to insinuate that I, Lance Mcclain, would let some hottie stand in the way of getting to his birthday party on time."

"And yet…" Hunk checked his phone. "You're twenty minutes late."

"Buuuuut, the cake I brought is extra delicious. Check it out!"

Lance opened the top to the brightly colored box to reveal an extremely large stack of pancakes.

Hunk did a double take, only realizing the second time around that what the bakery had made was in fact a gorgeously decorated cake made to look identical to Sal's delicious pancakes.

"Woah. That's something else."

"I thought about just going to Sal's and buying a giant stack of pancakes, but felt this would be going the extra mile. And you know me…"

"Someone bring me a knife!" Hunk called over the crowd. "You really outdid yourself this time."

"Don't I always?"

"True." Hunk said, grabbing the knife his brother brought him.

"Wait! Wait a second!" Lance shrieked.

Hunk looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

Lance pulled out a pack of candles from his coat. "It's your birthday, you fool. Everyone gather 'round!"

Lance lit the candles and then forced everyone to sing three different renditions of happy birthday to Hunk. After the second one Hunk tried to stop him, but Lance only ducked under his arm and continued to sing "Feliz Cumpleaños" very loudly until he was done.

Afterward Hunk gave Lance another hug, crushing his ribs until Lance dramatically squeaked. "You're killing me. You're killing me."

Hunk loosened his grip, but then caught sight of Pidge in the corner of his eye. "Lance!" He said. "Before I forget, I need to introduce you to someone!"

He dragged Lance over to Pidge first.

"Oh, hey Pidge. How have you been?" Lance asked her.

"Pretty good. Actually I've been wanting to face you in some games. Hunk says you're pretty good."

"Well only to Hunk because he's so baa-aa-"

Hunk squeezed Lance's wrist hard to silence him. "Birthday boy." He reminded.

"Birthday boy." Lance agreed, rubbing his wrist and then laughing.

Hunk turned to Pidge. "Actually I brought him over so that you can introduce him to Keith. Where did he go?"

Pidge shrugged. "I think he's talking to one of your grandma's actually."

"Really?" Lance asked, looking around. "I love talking to Hunk's grandma's."

Pidge raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?" Lance asked, slightly insulted. "Grandma's hold all the stories of our past. Getting in with them also means you get extra cookies everytime they bake."

Hunk rolled his eyes, before spotting Keith in the corner. "There!"

"Oh…" Lance said checking the guy out. "He's actually pretty cute."

"What? Did you think I would steer you wrong?'

"No, I had absolute and complete trust in you buddy. Always. And now I know you deserve it."

Hunk and Pidge snorted.

"Well that is my cue lady and gentleman. I will be excusing myself." He bowed. "Pidge, nice to see you again, hit me up later to play one of the games. You're choice. Fair warning though, I'm good at all of them."

"He comes here a lot." Hunk nodded at Pidge.

Lance left them to talk about whatever two nerds liked to talk about when they were together. He put a hand gently on Hunk's grandma's shoulder.

"Ah! Lance." She said. She kissed him on the cheek. "It's good to see you again."

"Good to see you again too Grandma Garrett! I wanted to make sure you got some of the cake before it's all gone. I picked it out myself."

"I'll definitely try some then. Keith," she said turning to him, "let me know if you try any of those knitting patterns."

"I will."

She wobbled off towards the table with the cake, leaving the two boys alone.

"Sorry for interrupting your incredibly riveting conversation." Lance said, holding back a laugh.

"Hey! Don't laugh!" Keith was defensive. He looked away and said quietly. "It was actually kind of interesting."

"Well...how about we keep things interesting?"

Keith smirked. "How so?"

"Hmm…" Lance said, feigning being deep in thought. "How about a game? Loser gets a prank. I'll warn you that I'm pretty good."

Keith's pride refused to let him back down even if it meant he had to say 'in your pants' for the rest of the evening and to both of Hunk's grandmothers. He felt his cheeks flush at the thought. "You're on."

Lance pointed at two of the arcade games on the floor. One was a shooting game, with big plastic guns set up, the other was a motorcycle racing game.

"So which one will it be, Red?"

* * *

 **A/N:** It's a little bit late, but all that really means is that I released this on Dia De Los Muertas instead of on Halloween and that is perhaps even more fitting...

I felt so bad about the ending of this story that I had to write the Ante Mortem...which, by the way, translates to "Before Death" in Latin and is an incredibly punny joke that I didn't want you to miss. Think of it as my apology, because I don't generally do sad endings and I hated it.

God this chapter was hard to write. Like I just genuinely didn't want to write it. I knew what was coming and just hated myself for it a little bit. I had weird experiences with my own coming out and like...it's just not fun to write that stuff...and then Lance's death was just so sad to write on top of all that. I put it off for most of the day even though I knew I needed to get this chapter out. Talk about causing my own stress.

Anyway you incredible readers! I love you, and I am not ashamed to say it! I will shout it from the rooftops if I must. Continue to be magnificent!

I have one more idea for a Klance fic (a one-shot, total comedy/romance style) and after that I will most likely be done until at least the season comes out.

I'd love to talk to you about my stories, or your stories, or other people's stories that are just absolutely off the wall amazing! I spend way too much of my time on my tumblr "seeminglycaptivating" but you can also find me on instagram and twitter "thechargrey" if you'd like! Hit me up! I'd love to talk to you!

You are all amazing!

Keep being compassionate and curious...


End file.
